Somehow I'll Make A Man Out Of You
by RunBabyRun8312
Summary: AU inspired by Mulan. Taz sneaks away to take the place of her sick, aging father, who is being forced to join the G.L.E.E., and has to pretend to be a man. She has to keep up her cover, especially around her leader, Up, who she has strange feelings for.
1. Chapter 1

**So I know that the 'honor' thing isn't as important in Taz's culture as it would be in China, but it's based off of Mulan and it's a story, so whatever. XD **

**Please review and let me know what you think! **

**More to come soon!**

Our tale begins on a Saturday morning in the Earth country of Mexico. It is the fifteenth birthday of Tacita Lopez, but as her mother and aunts look around, tapping their feet impatiently, the birthday girl is nowhere to be found. Tacita perches up in a tall tree near a brook in the woods. The quiet, secluded clearing is her thinking spot and she has a lot of thinking to do on this day. At fifteen, she us supposed to become a woman, but Tacita just wants to stay the way she was yesterday, fourteen and not worrying about her future. She looks up at the sun. Goodness! How far it had gone since she had left early that morning! No one knew where she was always sneaking off to, so if she stayed put it would be a while before she was found, but the thought of Mama's angry face made Tacita jump down and run home, forgetting her half eaten _pan_ for the birds to enjoy.

Tacita burst through the door, sweating and panting from the bright sun beating down on her as she sprinted past all the townspeople, each of whom called out, "¡_Feliz cumpleaños_!" after her. Her three _tias_ and Mama were sitting around the table drinking coffee, but all jumped up when she came in.

"Tacita Lopez!" Mama yelled, "Where have you been? Are you _loco_, girl? We have to be at the church in less than an hour!"

Mama continued scolding her daughter, but the aunts grabbed Tacita and took her into the bathroom. She squirmed as six hands reached and removed her clothes. Next thing she knew, she was resurfacing and coughing out water from the bathtub. Mama was now out of lecturing mode and scrubbing her scalp with fruity scented shampoo.

"_Hace frío_," Tacita muttered through chattering teeth.

"If you had gotten here on time, it would've been warm," Tia Rosa said.

Tia Carla grabbed one of Tacita's legs, pulled it out, and began to lather it with shaving cream.

"¡Ay! ¡Basta, basta, basta! I can do that!" Tacita yelled, pulling her leg away.

The women left, but promised to return in five minutes to help her dress. Tacita hurried with the task of shaving, not worrying when she saw a drop of blood running down her leg. The dress she'd be wearing would be covering her legs anyway. She wrapped herself in a towel and sat on the edge of the tub. A cool March breeze blew in from under the door. Her moment of silent serenity was interrupted, though. Mama and the aunts were early. It took all four of them to carry the poofy pink dress in the door. Mama pushed a clump of wet hair out of her daughter's face.

"My lovely Tacita," Mama sighed, "My only baby girl. Today is your day. You'll bring honor to our family, my perfect _princesa_."

"We're going to be late!" Tia Yanitza exclaimed.

The aunts pushed aside Mama who was dabbing away tears with her apron. One pulled Tacita to her feet and tugged the towel, pulling it off and sending Tacita spinning while trying to cover herself. Her relatives paid no attention to how uncomfortable she was, though, and began to dry her long, black hair.

"Oh, Taci, wait and see. When we're through, boys will be lining up for you," Tia Carla said.

Mama grabbed the corners of Tacita's mouth and forced them into a smile. "With good attitude and a great hairdo, you'll bring honor to us all."

Before Tacita knew what was going on her hair was twirled into an up do on top of her head. Everyone ignored her protests and exclamations about how she could put on her own undergarments. Suddenly she was swimming in pink lace. Someone grabbed her arms and pulled them through the sleeves, freeing her.

"Now listen to us, sweetie, we've been here before," Tia Yanitza said, "You're still young, but you must know this. Men want girls with good taste. Calm, obedient, who work fast paced."

"With good breeding and a tiny waist," Tia Rosa added, "You'll bring honor to us all."

The door burst open and Tacita's three older brothers, Roberto, Gabriel, and Jose, ran in. Mama scolded them, saying that they should have knocked, but they ignored her and went to their sister. "Taci, look what we got you!" Gabriel exclaimed." He opened his hand and there it was; the most beautiful thing that Tacita had ever seen. It was a simple black hair clip, but it was covered in sparkling pink jewels.

"It's _bello_," Tacita gasped as Jose fastened it into the front of her hairdo, "_Muchos_ _gracias_."

"We've been saving our money for months," Roberto said, "Only the best for our little _hermana_."

"She's not so little anymore, though," Mama commented.

"Sí," Jose agreed, "Soon we'll be chasing away all the local _chicos_."

A horn honked outside.

"That's Papa," Gabriel said, "We need to get going."

The women freaked out, exclaiming that they hadn't done Tacita's makeup. Tia Carla said that they could just do it in the car, so everyone rushed out to meet an exasperated Papa. He hated being late. His expression changed, though, when he saw his daughter hurrying and trying not to let her dress touch the ground. Papa pulled her into a hug, forcing the tears forming in his eyes to go away. The boys climbed into the very back, Papa and Mama in the front, leaving Tacita squished with the aunts in the middle section of the van. She sat as still as she could doing as she was told. Look up! Look down! Open your lips! Close your eyes! For Heaven's sake, don't mess up your hair! Finally, it was over. Tacita gazed out of the window. They were driving past the cemetery. All of her deceased relatives had been laid to rest there.

Tacita moved her lips silently, whispering softly. "Ancestors, hear my plea. Help me not to make a fool of me and to not uproot my family tree. I must bring honor to them all."

The ceremony at the church was beautiful. Nearly all the pews were filled with family and friends. It seemed to take forever to Tacita, though. She had been so bored that she hadn't even noticed when it was almost over. The priest lowered a rosary over her head and Tacita looked down to see a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe resting just above the place where Mama had promised her breasts would be by this time, but had not yet come all the way. She was young, though, so she waved it off, not caring about it. Then a shiny tiara was placed on her head symbolizing the fact that she would always be a princess. Tacita hated it when her parents and brothers called her that and now they'd have even more reason to do it. Tacita felt a bouquet placed in her hands and someone placed a hand on her back leading her to an altar where she absentmindedly placed the flowers.

Soon she was shoving the lace and tulle of her dress into the van once again and they went home. The women cooked while the men set up the _fiesta_ that was due to start momentarily. Tacita was sitting on the roof with her knees pulled into her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. She had offered to help with the preparations, but everyone had refused, telling her to relax and keep her hair and dress clean. As she sat on the roof, her second favorite hiding spot, she watched the sky, squinting from the bright sun. Tacita had always loved high places and gazing up at the world far away. A shape in the distance made her shield her eyes and crane her neck up. She stopped and stared every time a starship passed overhead. Something about this spacecraft looked different, but Tacita shook it off, thinking that perhaps the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration had changed the appearance of their ships. Someone called her name from inside. Tacita peered over the top of the house. People were arriving for the party. The ship flew closer and closer. Maybe the starship rangers were making a stop nearby! That's be the greatest birthday present ever! She was being called again. She pulled herself back through her bedroom window and scurried downstairs, putting the odd looking ship from her mind as she recognized her favorite song blaring through the speakers.

Later into the day the sun was setting, spreading gorgeous shades of orange and pink across the sky that matched Tacita's dress very well. It had been a fantastic party so far. There was plenty of food and dancing, although Mama was very upset that her daughter had turned down every boy who had asked her to dance. Gabriel, Roberto, and Jose were growing impatient and asking where they would be eating the cake. Papa finally grew tired of them drooling over the dessert and announced that it was time for the father-daughter dance. He called Tacita over, who had been chasing her mischievous cousins around. Everyone crowded around as she sat in a chair and Papa pulled off her silver flats to replace them with glittery two inch heels. The he pulled his daughter to the dance floor.

"You've grown so much, my baby girl," Papa whispered into her ear as they moved.

Tacita opened her mouth to reply, but a large _boom_ caused the ground to shake and her to tumble from her father's embrace. Several other people had fallen as well and were being helped up. Everyone looked around wondering what had happened and then an aunt let out a shrill scream, pointing at the road. A moment later, all the others saw. A pack of robots were marching toward them, blasting through the wooden fence and entering the backyard. Everyone froze unsure of what to do. One of Tacita's cousins, a little girl barely able to walk, rushed on her tiny feet towards the intruders squealing, obviously thinking that they were toys. A robot fired a single beam and the toddler flew across the ground where she landed and remained still.

All hell broke loose them. People screamed and fled in every direction. Tacita remained rooted in place as she watched several members of her family and children from her school die around her. Roberto grabbed her arm and pulled her, but she didn't register any of it. He shoved her and she ran into Mama, who wrapped her arms around her as if that could keep her daughter safe from the killer beams of the robots. Papa tried to hurry them along, but Jose called from behind. Roberto ran to help him get Gabriel, who had tripped, back to his feet. Between her mother's arms, Tacita saw all three of her brothers shot down in a row and fall dead atop one another. She let out a heart wrenching scream, the first sound she had made since the robots arrived, and used all the power within her tiny body to push her parents aside and run to her brothers.

"Tacita! You can't help them! Come on!" Papa yelled over all the chaos.

She didn't listen. Mama and Papa both tried to get her, but got caught in the sea of people trying to flee. Tacita kneeled beside her brothers, whose eyes were all still open, but didn't look back at her. Tears cascaded down her face as she gathered the bodies in her skinny arms. Her parents had managed to push their way through the crowd and were nearing.

She heard them exclaim, "Taci, run!"

It was too late, though.

A metallic hose wrapped around her waist tightly and lifted her into the air. Not even a minute later, she was upside down being tied to the rope on which her large unicorn piñata was hanging. Tacita's brown eyes widened with fear as she saw the paper mâché object fall to the ground and split open, sending candy everywhere. That easily could have been her head. The hose that had lifted her whipped her in the torso. Tacita cried out in pain, but left her hands where they were, holding her dress up so the skirt didn't fall over her face. She may have been up in a tree with robots besting her up, but she still didn't want to be flashing her underwear. Mama and Papa had tried to come help, but ended up having to duck under an overturned table to avoid the laser beams of the robots.

Tacita shrieked as multiple metal claws hit her all over. Spots appeared in her vision as the blood rushed to her head. She was barely able to see, but she heard a voice.

"Hey! Get away from her, you metal bastards!"

Then there was a loud pew, pew, pew and she was falling. All that went through her mind was the image of that piñata's contents exploding everywhere. She stopped. But...where was the ground? Where was the splitting open of the skull? Where was the immense pain? Where was the death that would reunite her with her brothers?

Tacita opened her eyes. Someone was holding her. One of the man's arms was keeping her against his body while the other held a large gun that shot neon colored beams at the robots. Tacita watched as the metal invaders exploded. The man lowered his gun.

"You alright? You know, besides the being beaten in a tree?" he asked.

"Sí," she answered quietly.

Mama and Papa were then there, pulling Tacita out of the man's arms. They set her down and hugged her. Both cried tears of loss and joy. Tacita wanted nothing more than to be held by her parents right then, but she needed to thank the man who had saved her. She forced her way out of their tangled arms.

The man was nowhere to be seen.


	2. Chapter 2

Just over three years later, Tacita was nearly the same in appearance, but her attitude had changed drastically. She was a young woman, now eighteen, but every ounce if her tiny body was filled with bitterness and anger. In the weeks that followed the attack, she replayed the day in her mind, bringing up only the good moments. That was when she remembered the ship that she had seen from the roof that afternoon. Tacita had noticed that something was different, but didn't tell anyone. She could've prevented it. Her final year of school had just come to a close, but unlike all her ex-peers, Tacita was not interested in going to the beach for celebratory parties. She had not attended a party since the day she turned fifteen. Every time a relative had any sort of event, she would suddenly become 'ill' or just disappear for hours. Mama and Papa didn't even notice her absences anymore. Or maybe they did, but just didn't care enough to worry or ask where she had been. They didn't seem to see her whenever she showed up at home anyway. When she stood in front of them, it was as though they saw right through her. The loss of their sons had impacted them deeply. Tacita was heartbroken over the tragic event as well, but her parents didn't try to console her as she had done with them to no effect. They barely even spoke to her.

Late on one June afternoon, there was a knocking on the front door. The broken family had stayed in their home although parts were still charred from the laser fire on that fateful day. Tacita often found Mama in the boy's old bedroom curled up on one of their beds and sobbing into their clothing. Right now she looked at her parents, who sat in the dining room with cups of what used to be hot coffee in front of them. She sighed and went over to the door, opening it to find a boy from down the road panting with beads of sweat dripping down his face. He must have run all the way there.

"Tacita!" he exclaimed, "They want all the families over at the square!"

"Who is 'they'?" Tacita asked.

"The Galactic League! Come on, nearly everyone is there!"

Tacita peeked back in at her parents, who still hadn't moved. "I'll try to get them there," she sighed and slammed the door shut. To everyone else, she was sarcastic, insulting, and snippy, but to her parents, she spoke gently. Tacita felt dreadfully lonely when they were near her, but could not bring herself to hate them. After all, she felt guilty for her brothers' deaths and the depression that her parents now felt.

She entered the room and cleared her throat to get their attention before speaking. "We need to go to the square. They're calling the whole town there."

"Why?" Mama questioned, her voice hollow.

Tacita shrugged. "I don't know, but we should get going.

With no emotion, her parents stood. Papa stuffed his feet into his shoes, but Mama left on her house slippers. Then they left. Tacita slowed her typically hurried pace to walk alongside them. Most of the time she walked fast to get away from everyone. Eyes of the neighbors also making their way to the town square followed them sadly. While everyone else had accepted what had happened, the three walking silently that had witnessed the deaths of their sons and brothers had not. Pity filled glances were given wherever they went. Maybe that was why Papa and Mama rarely left the house.

They finally made it to the square to find all the other families of the small town there as well. A few more latecomers trickled in after them. A large pod was on the ground with a ramp leading up to a doorway. The logo for the G.L.E.E. was on the side. Years ago, Tacita would've looked at that object with pure wonder and shove through the crowd of people just to touch it, but now her nose wrinkled in disgust. Where had they been when the town needed them? When _she_ needed them? Starship rangers weren't as heroic as she once though them to be.

A young man stepped out of the pod. If he was older than Tacita, it wasn't by much. He had brown hair and the way he walked to the microphone stand that had been set up for him showed that he clearly thought that he was better than all of them. He tapped the microphone, glaring at it when it let out a high pitched squeal, then spoke slowly, as if everyone there were dumb babies.

"Hello, people of… Só-ta-no Ar-tes," the guy said, reading the town name off of a paper in a very confused way, "I am here on behalf of the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration. We have randomly selected several places across the galaxy from which multiple people will help us with an important task and, as you can tell, we picked this hellhole."

He cracked a smile, obviously thinking that he had made a great joke, but everyone just blinked at him. He nervously ran a finger around the inside of his uniform collar and chuckled, hoping that others would join in.

"What do you want, _gringo_? Spit it out!" someone yelled from the crowd.

The young man continued at a very fast pace, "We need one man from each family to come and aid us in the Robot Wars."

It was silent for a moment and then everyone exploded with emotion. People screamed and gave the man very detailed death threats in Spanish. Someone threw a shoe that smacked him in the gut. Tacita stood silent, just like the meaning of her name. The other families were in uproar about having to decide which man they would send, but her family had only one; Papa. Aging, depressed Papa who was growing frailer by the day and became sick often. She looked up at her parents. Mama had one hand pressed on her mouth, the other on her chest, where her already shattered heart was probably breaking even more. Papa, on the other hand, had straightened his posture, trying to look strong for his girls, even though his daughter knew that he was frightened about going to war. Tacita's mind conjured up the image of her father lying dead on the ground just as her brothers had.

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" she roared louder than the rest of the village combined.

Everyone turned and looked at the small girl whose chest was rising and falling rapidly with the quick, angry breaths she was taking. The guy on stage looked as if he had just shit his pants. His eyes were wide with fear. The crowd parted as Tacita marched up to the stage. Her eyes never left the frightened young man.

"Jou are not taking _anyone_, jou understand?" she growled, "¿_Comprendes_?"

The guy trembled for a moment, but then seemed to remember that this girl was half his size from where he stood on the short stage. His arrogant expression returned. "Yes, I am taking people with me and there is nothing you can do about it, little girl, so why don't you run on home and go play with your dollies?"

His smirk vanished yet again not even ten seconds later when Tacita tried jumping onto the stage to tackle him. He let out a high pitched squeal and hopped back. Luckily for him, several people grabbed the girl, knowing that no matter how much they hated this man who had shown up to take people away, this would not end well. They pulled her back and shoved her back to her parents.

"We need a man from each family tomorrow at five AM. Any family to fail to send a man will have to deal with the Galactic League." And with that, the man scurried back off to his drop pod. Tacita thought she heard him barricade the door from inside.

Everyone turned and began walking back to their homes talking about what they would do. Tacita was still fuming, but all of a sudden she felt a hand roughly seize her sleeve and begin dragging her down the road. It was Papa. Something flashed in his eyes that his daughter had not seen in a long time; emotion. This emotion did not look happy, though.

When they arrived home, he released her and went to the nearest window, leaning against it. He turned slowly and looked at Tacita.

"That was an awful thing to do," he spat, "It showed disrespect and dishonor."

"But, Papa, I-"

"I don't want to hear it, Tacita! Go up to your room and don't come out until you can be more mature!"

"Mature?" Tacita yelled, "Jou're telling me to be mature! Jou're the immature one! You sit around feeling _triste_ all day because you can't accept the fact that they boys are dead! They're gone, Papa, and they're never coming back!"

There was a sob. Tacita turned. She had forgotten all about Mama. Immediately, she regretted her outburst.

Papa pointed upstairs with a shaky finger. "Get up there now! Look what you've done!"

Tacita stormed past him and out the front door. Much to her disappointment, he didn't call for her to come back. Her feet led her to her favorite forest spot even though her mind was elsewhere. Papa had barely spoken to her in three years and now that he finally did, it was to reprimand and yell at her. What she had said was true, but Tacita hated the fact that she had made Mama cry.

She sat leaning against a tree trunk until her anger had subsided, which ended up being several hours. The moon and stars were shining down as she walked back home, hoping that her parents were asleep. She couldn't face another moment like that. As Tacita approached the house she saw through the window that the light in the guest bedroom was on. She climbed atop a charred picnic table to see her father in the room waving his knife around and jabbing it at the air as if there were a real person there. Although he was fighting no one, he was slow. There was no way he'd win a battle. Besides, didn't he know that if you stabbed a robot you would get electrocuted? Tacita had seen those guns that the starship rangers used. She'd seen them on TV and on the one day that she tried to forget, she had seen one in the hand of the mysterious man who had saved her. Papa was far too old and frail to be able to lift one of those machines.

Although it saddened her, Tacita watched for several more minutes until Papa put the knife back in its box, returned it to its place in the closet, and left, turning off the light behind him. She made out his figure in the darkness entering his bedroom and lying down next to Mama. Thinking of Papa going to war, especially one this big, broke her heart. If he left, there was no chance of him returning. She couldn't bear to lose another person and neither could Mama.

Tacita knew what she had to do.


	3. Chapter 3

**I must say, I was surprised that no one figured out who the rude guy was. Or maybe you did and didn't say anything. Whatever. XD **

**I got one guess and it was wrong. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And I hope that I got Junior right. I really tried to. Please review! :) **

She opened and closed the front door slowly and silently as she entered the house. Her small feet hopped over the squeaky stair on her way to her room. Tacita scarcely even breathed. If she awoke her parents then there was no way that she could pull this off.

An empty black backpack dropped to the floor as Tacita dug through her dresser. She flung garments behind her carelessly. Nothing was right. Everything she owned was girlish in some way. Her eyes landed on the door across the hall. It was shut and she stared at the names written on it in dark blue paint; _Jose, Roberto, y Gabriel_. Mama had flipped when she found out that they had painted it. All three boys were grounded for two weeks. Tacita had helped, but none of her brothers ratted her out. She chuckled at the memory and went to the door, pushing it open. She pulled open their closet and brought a shirt to her face. It smelled like them. Tears prickled her eyes. Tacita quickly shoved several articles of clothing into the bag. Now was not the time to cry or reminisce. There was still so much to do.

Next she went into the guest room and pulled out the box with Papa's knife in it. There was nothing too special about it, but Papa had always kept it hidden away for some reason. Tacita and her brothers had made up stories about it when they were younger. They said that it was magic and could grow into a giant sword, but now as she held it in her hands, Tacita realized that it was just a knife. She would take it with her, though. It would remind her of home. On her way out, she passed a mirror and her eyes widened. She had almost forgotten a major thing; her hair! It nearly went to the bottom of her back. It would have to go.

Tacita scoured the house, but could only find her school scissors, which were small and dull. She dug through every drawer and cupboard one more time. A panic attack kicked in. How would she get rid of it? The knife. It was on the kitchen table beside her backpack. Tacita picked it up and cut a small clump of hair, finding it to not be easy at all. A squeak of pain slipped out. She looked at the clock.  
There wasn't much time before she had to go. She rolled up a washcloth and put it in her mouth before pulling her hair into a high ponytail and beginning to saw through it. Tears squeezed out of the corners of her eyes and she bit down hard on the washcloth. Finally, it was over. Tacita held the ponytail of unevenly chopped of hair in her hand. She ran her fingers through her now short hair, feeling like a completely different person. The hair clip in the ponytail caught her eye. It was the one that her brothers had given her; one of the few things that had survived the attack. She wore it every day, but ignored the jab to her heart as she left it on the table.

Last, but certainly not least, Tacita crept into her parents' room and unplugged the alarm clock that Papa had set. Mama and Papa slept silently. Tacita bent over a pressed a gentle kiss to each of their cheeks.

"_Te amo mucho_," she whispered, pushing back Mama's hair, "_Lo siento, pero tengo que ir_."

And she dashed out of the house with her bag. Tacita tried to ignore the desire to turn and look back, but couldn't. At the end of the road, she whipped around and stared at the only home she had ever known. Would she ever see it again? No, she couldn't think like that. Of course she would come back.

She stopped halfway to the square and changed into some of the boys' clothes behind the church. She tugged on the loose fitting jeans quickly, tripping over them. The giant cross on the roof seemed to be staring at her and Tacita needed to get away from it. Her pink top and small denim shorts were left behind without a care. When she finally arrived at the dreaded place, there were many men already there. No one paid any attention to her. They hardly even looked at each other. Suddenly, the drop pod door opened. Tacita groaned as the obnoxious man from before poked his head out and announced that they could go in. The men formed a line and Tacita fell into the very back, hoping not to be spotted by anyone who may know her. After all, several of the men there were her uncles, ex-teachers, and neighbors. A while later, she stomped inside and up to a table where the ranger was seated with papers.

"Are you the last one?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Great! Deadgod, this has taken forever! Would it kill some of you people to learn English?"

Once again, this insult must have been funny to him, but Tacita didn't move.

"Okay," he cleared his throat, "Well, let's sign you in. You're the last one, so I'm assuming you're from the Lopez family…?"

"Sí," Tacita replied, but then repeated it in a lower tone to sound like a boy.

"Name?"

"Taci-," she started and corrected herself, "Uh, Ta…z. Taz. Taz Lopez."

"What the hell kind of name is that?"

Now that Tacita, or as we should now call her, Taz, was up close to the man she saw the name sewn onto his uniform.

"Junior? What the hell kind of name is _that_?" she countered.

"Well played," Junior growled, then squinted at her, "You look familiar. Are you related to that girl who tried to kill me yesterday?"

Taz smiled widely. "She's _mi hermana_ and jou had better believe that if I had been there, the two of us would have succeeded in wringing jour scrawny little neck."

"Yikes. Well, with anger issues like that, I think I know what training camp I'll put you in," Junior said, scribbling something onto his paperwork, "You'll be going with me to the camp under the direction of Commander Up. Congratulations, you're the only one from this town going there. Know why? Because _I_ choose where people go and I send all those who I don't like to the place where Up will make sure they stay in line."

"And why does some _idiota_ like jou get so much power?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because my dad is the head of the whole Galactic League and if you don't do as I say, I'll have him arrest you and your family. Hell, maybe I'll even do one worse and have you guys deported to that wasteland Farm Planet. You wouldn't believe the morons we enlisted there."

"They're probably smarter than jou."

Junior smiled. "Oh, Commander Up is going to love whipping you into shape."

"I'd like to see him try," Taz sneered and marched off to the center room with everyone else.

**Translation: Te amo mucho. Lo siento, pero tengo que ir. – I love you so much. I'm sorry, but I have to go. **

**All Spanish I have used so far has come from my Spanish I class. XD**


	4. Chapter 4

Taz stomped into the large main room of the drop pod where the men from her town had assembled. She stood far to one side, still trying to avoid their gazes. Her anger was slowly boiling down, very slowly. Who did that Junior fellow think he was, ordering her where to go? The moment that she got a zapper in her hands there was a very good chance that it just might 'accidently' go off in that guy's direction.

Suddenly, with no warning, the pod began to shake. Taz felt her stomach rise to her throat as they lifted off of the ground. Through a small window, she saw her town growing smaller and smaller as the pod ascended into the sky. It was at that moment that what she was doing hit her and she wanted nothing more than to put the pod back on the ground and run home, but that wasn't going to happen. What was done was done and it was too late to turn back.

Junior sauntered in a moment later, scanning the room and glaring when he spotted her. Taz resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him like she used to do to her brothers. He began talking about when they would be arriving at different training camps to drop people off, but Taz paid no attention. She leaned against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest. It wasn't like she needed to know where to go. She was stuck with Junior and that thought made her blood boil again, so she let her mind drift to other things.

Were Mama and Papa still asleep? What would they do when they found out that she was gone? Would they even notice…or care at all? Taz thought of what had happened to them after the boys died. What would they become upon realizing that their daughter was gone as well? All she could do was hope that the family would take care of them.

The pod shuddered roughly. Everyone grabbed each other or the wall to stay upright, except for Junior, who was concentrating on a game he was playing on a device of some sort. He must have been used to traveling through space. The new recruits, on the other hand, freaked out. Most of them had never left Mexico, or even Sótano Artes, before and were grouping together to look out of the window. All that they saw was an expanse of stars and planets. The jolt that they had experienced a moment before was them exiting the atmosphere into the endless oblivion of space. Taz remained rooted to the spot. She had always wondered what the starship rangers saw up in space, but never thought that she would be up there, about to become one. It was exciting and terrifying all at the same time.

"Okay, those of you stationed for the training camp on Brunsman, gather your things and assemble by the door. We'll be approaching there soon," Junior announced and went to hit some buttons on the control panel.

Taz spotted one of her older cousins walk past her to the door. She reached a hand out, but pulled it back. The pod landed gently and the door opened slowly into a ramp. The men looked back nervously, but Junior shooed them out.

"Yeah, yeah, get going," he said as they filed out, "_Adiós, amigos_."

They took off again and after a while, Taz found her head lolling against the wall. She hadn't slept at all. She slid down the wall into a sitting position and pulled her legs into her chest. Apparently, the next drop off was farther away, but no one knew because Junior didn't say anything to them and none of them wanted to ask. Eventually, though, after deadgod knows how long, the pod landed once more. Taz's half asleep mind didn't register the name of the planet. A few minutes later, the spacecraft was empty aside from Taz and Junior.

Taz felt the pod lift again, but didn't remember anything else until something roughly nudged her in the stomach. She squinted her eyes open to see Junior standing above her, his foot poised for another shove. The last takeoff had caused Taz to slump sideways onto her backpack and she had fallen into a deep sleep instantaneously.

"Get up. We're here."

Taz stretched before grabbing her bag and standing. She marched out of the open pod onto the terrain of a planet quote similar to Earth, except a part that she had never seen before. Each training camp had been set up in a different type of environment. One was on a desert planet, another in a jungle, and this one must have been the forest camp. Taz had never seen so many trees before! Sure, there had been some in Mexico that she had enjoyed climbing, but not very many. The amount here seemed endless. It was green as far as the eye could see, except for the large blue river rushing ahead that flowed from a lake, and Taz thought that it was the most beautiful place in the galaxy. She had only ever seen desert aside from that small patch of trees near her house. Everything excited her; all the colors, smells, and sounds.

"Hurry up!"

Okay, maybe not _all_ the sounds. She certainly could have done without Junior's voice.

The two marched silently through the woods until a series of tents came into view. By now it must have been late afternoon and the camp appeared to be empty. There were many small tents pitched very poorly in a large clearing and one big, grand looking tent nestled in the best spot, underneath some large trees that shielded it from the sun. Taz automatically assumed it was the tent of the commander that Junior had been talking about, but they kept walking. A strong scent of pot wafted into her nose as they passed the giant tent. Junior seemed to notice that as well and turned to her, saying, "My tent is off limits. And _especially_ don't go near there with open flames." Taz nodded and they continued.

Finally, they stopped in front of a canvas tent in the center of the clearing, right next to a circular fire pit. Whoever had set up this one obviously had more experience than who had pitched the others. Junior readjusted his posture, probably trying to look more important and professional, and called out, "Commander Up, I have arrived with your last recruit."

There was a rustling inside and then a large man carefully exited through the flaps. He was tall, possibly even one and a half of Taz, and incredibly muscular. Taz wasn't even sure how he managed to fit inside the small tent. His gaze shifted from Taz to Junior back to Taz again. He did not seem happy. Commander Up crossed his arms and slowly looked Taz up and down. She felt her palms begin to sweat. It wasn't the fact that this man looking her over made her feel self conscious. It made her nervous. The commander had a stony, unreadable expression and Taz felt certain that he could tell she wasn't who she said she was. As he opened his mouth to speak, she expected him to call her out on being a girl, but he didn't.

"Tell me, Junior," he sighed, "Why is it that I seem to have gotten all scrawny little boys?"

Taz opened her mouth, ready to exclaim that she wasn't scrawny, but Junior started speaking first. "I really don't know, Commander. I have no authority over who gets which recruits."

Taz knew that this was a load of bullshit, but kept her mouth shut. As fun as it would be to reveal Junior's lie, she had the feeling that Commander Up didn't like snitches. She watched as the two men stood silently. Finally, the commander reached inside his tent for a moment. Whether or not he believed what Junior had said was still unknown. He pulled back out a few seconds later and held out an armful of supplies towards Taz.

"Here," Commander Up huffed, "Go find a place to set up your tent. You're lucky that Junior got here so late. You missed today's training. The others should be back soon."


	5. Chapter 5

Taz grabbed the bundle and marched off. Sure, she was small, but scrawny? No. Her skin began to prickle with anger. She absolutely loathed it when people made fun of her size. Commander Up thought she was scrawny, did he? Well, she'd just have to show him how things like height didn't matter.

She continued walking until she was a good distance away from the other tents. There was no way that she'd risk letting one of the guys see her change. Taz dropped her things to the ground carelessly with a thud. All that Commander Up had given her was a large piece of canvas, several plastic sticks, and a sleeping bag. Looking down at the items that were supposed to become her shelter, Taz wished that she had a little more attention on family camping excursions when the boys and Papa had pitched the tents, but, of course, she hadn't. Those memories were from a time when she had still been a carefree young girl who thought that trying to catch butterflies in a jar was far more important than how to set up some ugly tent.

Twenty minutes later, Taz was ready to just take one of the skinny plastic sticks and shove into her ear, through her brain, and out the other side. A slow, agonizing death would be far better than the task of putting her new home together. Didn't tents usually come with instruction manuals? Every time that Taz got a few parts together, it would fall apart. After several more failed attempts, she stepped back. It was done! It stood up on its own! It – fell. The sticks slipped out of their spots. The canvas drifted down on top of them. Taz wondered how long it would take to suffocate if she were to just roll herself into the material.

"It helps if you tether it down," a voice said.

Taz whipped around, but saw no one. She shook it off and turned back.

"You could just weigh it down with some rocks form beside the lake."

"Okay, _¿quién está allí?_" Taz said loudly, looking around once more. She even looked up into the trees.

"Down here."

At her feet sat a fluffy black puppy. Taz raised an eyebrow. The dog cocked his head and held her gaze. She broke it, peering into the forest again.

"Seriously, who is there?" she yelled.

"It's me!"

No. No way. There was not a talking dog. That was impossible. All this tent business was making her _loco_. She rubbed her eyes, but the dog was still there. Taz wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't been there, but the dog opened its mouth and began speaking.

"Hiya."

Taz couldn't help it. She leapt backward, falling onto the mess of her tent supplies. "No," she muttered, "No. _Perros_ don't talk."

The dog chuckled, which only freaked Taz out more, and said, "I'm not a normal dog. I'm a Data Dog. We're canines enhanced to be able to speak and hold vast amounts of knowledge. We were created by the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration seven hundred and sixty two years ago to aid the starship rangers."

"Well then why are jou in the middle of a forest on some planet scaring the crap out of people?"

The puppy looked down sadly. "I used to belong the Junior, but he abandoned me. I'm a disgrace to Data Dogs all over the galaxy."

"Why did he get rid of jou?" Taz asked, scooting closer over to him. The fact that that jackass Junior had gotten rid of the dog made her sympathetic.

"I guess that when they programmed me they left too many dog-like traits and a few weeks ago, Junior's parents stopped by the camp to see him and I…I…I…."

"_¡Vamos! _Spit it out!"

"I humped his mom's leg!" the dog exclaimed.

Taz cracked up, rolling in the grass. Soon, her abs and mouth hurt from laughing. She was gasping for breath. The Data Dog, however, did not seem so amused. "It's not funny," he said.

"Jou're right," Taz stopped for a moment, then laughed again. "It's _hilarious_! Jou humped _Junior's mom_!"

The little puppy began to shake and his gold flecked eyes became watery. Taz liked to think that she was a tough son of a bitch, but the sad dog broke her.

"_Lo siento_, little guy," she said, rubbing his soft head, "_¿Como te llamas?_"

The puppy sniffed just the way a human would. "K98P."

"What the hell kind of name is that? That's not a real name."

"It's the name I was given after programming."

"Well, I'm just going to have to change that," Taz announced, rubbing her chin in thought, "I've got it! From now on, jour name is Cachondo!"

There was a whirring as the dog processed the word through his computer-like brain to translate it."Cachondo means 'horny' in Spanish," he finally said.

"I know," Taz grinned, "It's perfect, don't jou think?"

Cachondo didn't seem too pleased with his new name, but after a nice belly rub from Taz, he gave in. Taz was glad. She'd need some company around here. Her plan was to do what she needed to and stay away from the men whenever possible. In a matter of minutes, she had her tent set up perfectly due to the detailed instructions that Cachondo had given her. It very well could have rivaled Commander Up's skillfully pitched tent. Taz crawled inside and unrolled her sleeping bag. Now was one of those few times that being small was an advantage. Both she and her new canine friend fit inside nicely.

Somewhere across the camp, a loud air horn was blown. Taz left Cachondo to guard the belongings that she knew no one would try to steal and took off. The only reason she found where the call had come from was the stench. It smelt like a cross between her high school's locker rooms and cafeteria. From several yards away the smell of ripe sweat and overcooked food hit her nose. Taz gagged, but continued until she found the group. There were many men lined up behind a makeshift kitchen. Each was dripping with perspiration and lake water. It was positively foul. A sweetly sour liquid rose in Taz's throat as one man walked past her, sweat falling in large droplets into the disgusting looking plops of food on his plate. One guy slipped on the slick grass as slipped, knocking Taz into the person at the end of the line and sending everyone else slamming into each other's backs. They all turned and glared down at her. Taz was worried for a moment, but then put a scowl on her face and crossed her arms, looking ahead as though nothing had happened.

It was a long wait. It wasn't until Taz's stomach began to growl that she realized she hadn't eaten since lunch the previous day. When she finally reached the front of the line, there was hardly any food left, not that it looked appetizing, or even edible, anyway. Taz had been too preoccupied with looking at what there was to eat to see who was serving her. It wasn't until an orange claw appeared in her line of vision, dropping white mush onto her plate that she looked up. Her eyes widened. There was a large bug standing upright holding a large spoon.

The insect seemed to understand her reaction. "You must be the new guy that we heard about. It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. My name's Bug."

"T-Taz."

Bug smiled friendly at her and with still slightly shaking hands, Taz stepped away with her tray. Two other men, one small and skinny and another larger with a confused expression served her something green and slimy as well as a slice of bread. There was a water jug set up at the end of the food line. Taz poured herself a glass and went to head back to her tent. By the look and smell of it, she'd only be eating bread and water tonight. Cachondo could have the rest.

From inside the light brown canvas, Taz could see the shadow of a large bonfire and the men sitting around it. She and Cachondo sat in total silence aside from the grasshoppers. The dog wrinkled his little black nose when he smelled what Taz had brought back for him, but ate some anyway. Taz drank half of the water and poured the rest into an empty compartment on her food tray for Cachondo to lap up. After they finished, she snuck back out and put her tray with everyone else's dishes. When she got back, the puppy was already curled up asleep at the foot of the sleeping bag. Taz ran her hand over his sleek coat a few times before grabbing her backpack to use as a pillow and laying down to bed herself. She had never had any pets and Taz was sure glad she had one now.

**So Cachondo is like Mulan's Mushoo except way cooler. When trying to imagine him, just picture an adorable black puppy who can speak with Darren's voice. **

**Please review! **

**Ahh! I'm going to Apocalyptour on the 19****th****! SO EXCITED! :D**


	6. Chapter 6

**IMPORTANT MESSAGE: So, I contacted the FanFiction people about making a category for Holy Musical Bman! and they told me that they did, but I can't find it. If any of you do find it, please let me know! Thank you and on with the story! :D**

The calm morning was broken by another loud wail of the bullhorn. Taz groggily pulled on her shoes. By the appearance of the men on the previous day, it really wouldn't matter if she changed her clothes or not. Cachondo nuzzled his head against her ankles then trotted over to warm spot on the sleeping bag where Taz's body had just been and went back to sleep. Taz blocked her eyes as she stepped out of her tent, expecting to be blinded by the sun, but found that there was no sun to be blinded by. It was still dark out.

Taz wandered to the middle of the camp still yawning and rubbing her eyes. She got into the short line for breakfast. By the sounds coming from the nearby tents, it was obvious that many of the men weren't ready yet. The three same guys, well, two guys and one abnormally large insect, were dishing up food again. Taz decided not to make eye contact with them, especially Bug. He still creeped her out. Some dry scrambled eggs, partly cooked potatoes, and another slice of bread was plopped onto her tray. Beside the water jug, there was a large machine with a sign reading 'Coffee' and Taz happily poured herself some. She sat on one of the half logs around the bonfire, but kept a distance from everyone else. Only two small pieces of potato passed her mouth before she gave up and went with the bread again. The eggs looked too gross to even prod with her fork. Taz thanked deadgod that the coffee actually tasted rather well and not like liquid bark like the way she thought it would. Soon, when the area filled, the only sounds were chewing, burping, and yawning. As many were clearing their trays, Commander Up stepped in and stood in the center of the giant circle.

"Okay, ladies," he growled in his thick drawl, "I want everyone done in two minutes and then we start our five mile run."

Taz stood to follow the others, but as she walked near the commander, he held his arm out in front of her. "Taz, right?" he questioned. She nodded slowly. Commander Up beckoned for her to follow him. He went over to the serving tables, reached behind them, and pulled out a brown canteen with a long strap.

"Forgot to give this to you yesterday. You'll be needing it."

Taz grabbed it from him. "Thank jou," she said and went to go fill it. Luckily, she was still so tired that her voice sounded deeper without her remembering to make it that way.

After the container was filled to the brim with water, Taz rushed to catch up with the others who were walking in a large group through the camp. As they passed Junior's tent, Taz heard loud snoring. Aggravated by the fact that he was still asleep, she picked up a medium sized rock and hurled it at the side of his large tent. The loud scream and thump that came a moment later put a grin on Taz's face. It disappeared quite quickly, though. Waiting for them at the edge of the clearing was Commander Up. He said nothing, just turned and began running. Taz and the men followed.

It was hell. Complete and utter hell. Commander Up was several feet ahead of the recruit in the lead and Taz was far behind him. After the first mile, they were stopped and she took a seat on a stump to breathe and drink some much needed water. Apparently, though, this was not a break. The commander's voice boomed through the forest, ordering them to do fifty pushups. Everyone dropped to the ground and began. Commander Up walked between them with his lip curled in annoyance. He barked insults at some and even pushed a few over that were doing so awful.

"Deadgoddamnit, Krayonder! Don't be such a candy ass!"

"You're back should be so flat that I should be able to eat off of it!"

"I don't want to see you on your knees, Rosenthal! That's a girl pushup! Now start over and do it the right way!"

Taz's thin arms no longer had any feeling in them. She had lost count after about nineteen. As Commander Up neared, he arms only began to shake more. Her whole body trembled as she lowered herself down and pushed back up. Taz could feel the commander's gaze upon her. Then the air was knocked out of her lungs as her body smacked onto the forest floor. Commander Up had swiped her arms out from under her with a quick move of his leg and carried on. Taz remained on the ground, burying her overheated face in the cool grass, until she heard the commander's footsteps again and held herself up again so he thought that she had continued. He walked back to the front of the group and instructed them to continue the run.

After every mile, they did another exercise and Commander Up seemed to find something wrong with Taz during every one. Her kicks weren't high enough. She couldn't keep up during the side slides and ground touches. Her knees didn't touch her chest during sit ups. As for the one handed pushups, he didn't even say anything to her. He simply glared down at her as she struggled to raise herself all the way, stepped on her pinky with his heavy boot, probably not by accident, and moved away to yell at someone else.

Eventually they arrived back at camp. Their five mile excursion had taken them through the forest and to the other edge of the clearing. Taz wasn't even sure how she was managing to drag herself along anymore. She felt like passing out, throwing up, and dying all at the same time. The smell of nasty camp food only made her stomach churn more. It was only lunchtime? It felt like it had been so much longer than only a few hours. After refilling her bone dry canteen, Taz hurried away from the food line and to her tent where she flung herself on top of her sleeping bag in the hope of taking a quick nap before whatever horrors the afternoon would bring. She was almost asleep when she heard breathing beside here. Taz cracked an eye open to see Cachondo sitting there looking at her.

"What do jou want?" she groaned.

"How was training?"

"Go away."

"Aren't you going to eat lunch? You'll need your energy."

"Go away."

"Skipping on food will only make you feel worse later."

"GO AWAY!"

Cachondo left, but he had been right, which only made Taz angrier later. She managed to get about twenty minutes of rest before hearing the call from the inside of the camp again. If anything, the short nap had only made her more lethargic and moody, but she grabbed her canteen and marched back to join the others.

That afternoon, they were told to split up, one half on either side of the lake. First, one group would swim across, grab someone from the other side, and carry them back across. The person being carried would have to pretend to be unconscious. Taz was not looking forward to this. While the other group made their way to the opposite side of the lake, she slipped off her shoes and socks then looked down into the water, wrinkling her nose with disgust. It was clear blue, but Taz would have probably preferred it if it were a murky green that she couldn't see through. She could see plant life at the bottom as well as fish swimming around. Oh deadgod, what if she stepped on a fish? Taz looked away, her face turning slightly green at the thought of coming in contact with a slimy fish. She may be tough with her words, but Taz was still a girl and gross animals touching her was not something that she looked forward to.

Suddenly, Commander Up stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Everyone from Taz's group leaped into the water. Taz stepped in and shuddered as her slimy algae slipped between her toes. The men were far ahead of her already, so she sucked in a deep breath and kicked off, swimming as fast as she could. By the time she got to the other side, there was only one guy left, so she wrapped her arm around his waist, careful to keep his head above water, and started going back. Taz had already been behind enough as it was, but having an extra person slowed her down. She was barely even halfway across when the others were climbing out of the water. When they finally arrived at the shore, Commander Up didn't say anything, but once again did not seem too pleased.

The groups switched sides. Taz trudged along with the others. Her wet clothes weighed a ton. The commander whistled again and the other group dove in. Taz tried to stand as far back as possible, not wanting some strange guy to just come up and grab her. Eventually, though, as her group dwindled down, a guy that Taz recognized as one of the food servers popped out. His mouth was agape slightly as he looked at the remaining people left.

He pointed to Taz. "I think I'm gonna save you, little fella," he said in a country accent.

He simply grabbed her wrist and jumped back into the lake. The guy swam as he normally would, using both arms instead of one, causing Taz to keep being thrown under the water and pulled back up. She was lucky if she got to take any shallow breaths in her time above the surface. After what seemed like an eternity, Taz was tossed onto the rocky shore. She would've loved to start screaming her head off at the man until her lungs burst, but at the moment, her lungs were filled with water, so she rolled over and coughed hard. By the time she had spurted it all up onto the rocks the others were already on their way back. No one came over. No one asked if she was okay. Her body was still shaking a little from the rough coughing, but grabbed her shoes and hurried to follow.

Once again she was at the end of the dinner line, but this time she was actually looking forward to getting food. Her stomach felt cavernous and it kept growling, so Taz wrapped her arms around herself to stifle the sound and try to stop the looks the men kept giving her when they heard it. The soaking shirt and jeans were so weighted down that they sagged on her, making Taz look even smaller than she was. When she finally was being served, the idiot who had 'saved' her said that they were out of bread. Taz knew it wasn't his fault, but still felt the strong urge to slam his face into one of the large metal pots. She kept her temper in control, though, barely, and stomped back to her tent, dripping all the way.

Cachondo wasn't there when she returned, which made Taz happy. The last thing she wanted was for him to know that he had been right earlier. She sat down cross legged with her tray in her lap and scooped up some orange mush with her spoon. Taz managed to get down several bites of the substance that tasted not at all like carrots, as she had been hoping. It was the consistency of applesauce, but the only flavors were mud and way too much pepper. After a few spoonfuls, her stomach gurgled and Taz tried her best to calm it down with water, but it was too late. She ran outside, fell onto her hands and knees, and vomited into the bushes. The color made her retch again, but there was nothing left in her stomach for her to throw up. Taz crawled back into her tent, shoved the barely touched tray out, and rinsed out her mouth with some water. She then curled up in her sleeping bag, still in wet clothes, and cried herself to sleep for the first night in a long time.

**I'm going to Apocalyptour this Saturday! AND I'm going to meet the totally awesome FanFictioner CommanderNemo! Meeting up with someone you met online is usually frowned upon, but FanFiction is different. ;) **

**Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Please review, follow, favorite, message, and all that good stuff! Next chapter we'll be fully introduced to Krayonder, Tootsie, and Bug.**


	7. Chapter 7

Taz's body did not what to awake the following morning. The loud wake-up call didn't even disrupt her deep sleep. Cachondo had to lick her face before she showed any signs of life. The puppy moved just in time to avoid being smacked by an arm as Taz stretched.

"You're going to be late," Cachondo said.

Taz yawned and muttered, "_¿Qué hora es?_"

"Five eleven."

"What? I thought that the wake-up horn went off at five!"

"It did," Cachondo stated, "But you were out cold."

Taz reached into her backpack/pillow and pulled out a pair of old, ripped jeans and a shirt. She quickly replaced her other clothes, which had left her sleeping bag damp and slightly smelly, before saying goodbye to Cachondo and scurrying off to the main camp. After eating as much as she could without a repeat of the previous night, Taz filled her canteen and sat back down at the bonfire circle, awaiting orders for that day's training. Commander Up did not appear, though. Soon, the men just got up and began walking, so Taz followed even though she was very confused. She had assumed that they would be doing another run.

Everybody stopped in front of a giant tree. It was extremely tall and wide, a good twenty to thirty feet high, and the branches were thick, but spaced very far apart. It would be difficult, but not impossible, for one to maneuver their way to the top.

"What, do we just climb it?" Taz asked aloud to no one in particular in a deep voice.

"I wish, man," a guy said, coming up beside her. Taz recognized him as a server. "We have to try to climb it with a zapper and an ammo belt on."

"It can't be _that_ hard."

"No, it is! Thems things are heavy, huh, Krayonder?" added the country boy from the lake.

The guy Taz now knew as Krayonder continued, "I can tell you one thing, though, man. Whoever finally reaches the top will be a legend. Every other day we spend the morning out here, but no one's made it yet."

"Commander Up did it," Bug said, "One our first day here. He left a reward at the very top for whoever can get up there."

"What do jou mean by 'reward'?" Taz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Food, man," Krayonder answered, "Like, real food, not the shit they make us dish out."

Taz's eyes grew wide at this news. She looked up into the tree, squinting to see if she could make out just what delicious treats were perched at the top. There was no way that she'd survive on the so-called 'food' they had here. Taz had to get up there and get whatever it was. It couldn't possibly be as hard as these guys said it was, right?

Bug spoke to her, breaking her thoughts, "Hey, what's your name, anyway?"

"Taz."

Country boy pushed forward between the others. He stuck his hand in Taz's face. "I'm Tootsie Noodles!"

"What the hell kind of name is that?" Taz found herself asking for the third time in only two days.

Krayonder sighed, "Oh, deadgod, don't get him started on Farm Planet, man!"

Tootsie was already puffing up his chest with pride, though, paying no attention to the groans from Bug and Krayonder. "You see, where I come from, Farm Planet, your first name is what you do and your last name is what you love! So I'm called Tootsie on account of my occasional toot, and Noodles because I like 'em."

Taz blinked silently for several seconds and was about to respond with a string of Spanish about how stupid that was when Commander Up finally appeared. He was carrying a large gun and a belt with multicolored tubes all around it. Those must have been what Krayonder had been telling her about. Commander Up handed the objects to someone and said, "Get on up there, boy. I want at least one of you to make it by the end of our training camp session!" He stood back and crossed his arms as the young man hooked the ammo belt through his pants and slung the zapper onto his back. The recruit used his nails to climb about six or seven feet and then fell to the ground with a _thud_. Next, the commander pointed at Bug. Bug gulped, and awkwardly put on the gear due to his lack of clothing. His limbs were much more fragile than the humans', but being an insect helped him be able to climb a little higher than the last guy. When he eventually failed, Commander Up uttered one word. "Taz."

She nervously walked through the crowd. Bug handed her the stuff and quietly wished her good luck. The ammo belt was so large that Taz was nearly able to wrap it around herself twice. As she slide the zapper onto her shoulder and positioned it across her back, she realized that the guys had been right. These _were_ extremely heavy. Taz began anyway, though, determined to make it to the top and show the commander that she was good at something. She grabbed a branch and pulled herself on top of it. Her height made it absolutely impossible to grab the next branch, so she jumped to the next one. That worked for several feet, maybe twelve or so, but then the branches got way too far apart. Taz leapt again, anyway, though. She didn't even come close.

Taz felt herself falling toward the ground and an image flashed into her head that she hadn't seen in a long time. The last time that she had been falling out of a tree was at her _quinceañera._ All she had pictured at that moment was her head smashing open against the ground, but then she had been saved. This time would be different, though. This time there would be no mysterious stranger to grab her. Over the years, Taz had actually begun to think that the man who rescued her had been a figment of her imagination during an awful time. As she fell faster and faster, Taz realized that she didn't want to die. She stretched out her arms and grabbed a hold of the trunk, ignoring the burning feeling on her hands as the bark ripped them.

Next thing she knew, Taz was opening her eyes while laying flat on her back. She sat up and put a hand to her throbbing head where a bump was now forming. Taz was alarmed to see that there was blood on her hand when she brought it back, but then realized that it wasn't from her head. Both of her hands we red with burn marks and blood. The skin was shredded from her sliding down the tree trunk, but she didn't feel any pain from it. In fact, she couldn't feel them at all. Commander Up leaned over her and looked at her injuries. He was still scowling, but there was the slightest hint of satisfaction in his eyes. Those eyes. They seemed so familiar, but Taz had never remembered seeing them before. As she looked up at him she thought that there was something about this scene that seemed like déjà vu, as though she had been there before. He grabbed one of Taz's hands, not caring about the blood now smearing onto his, and pulled her to her feet. She wobbled dizzily. Her head felt fuzzy.

"That was the highest anyone's ever climbed before," Commander Up stated, filling Taz with pride, but then continued with, "But there was still a lot wrong with your technique. Do you think that in the heat of battle you'll be able to take time and plan jumps while robots are shooting at you with nearly perfect precision?"

Taz's head was spinning from her wound and from confusion. Was he happy with what she had done? Had that been a compliment or an insult? And was that last part a rhetorical question? She decided to assume that it was and not answer. The commander pulled the zapper and ammo belt off of her. He then roughly shoved a hand into Taz's hair and felt the bump on her head. Blackness invaded her vision for a moment.

"Someone go with Taz to get an ice pack," Commander Up ordered, "And help him clean up his hands. We don't want those getting infected."

"I'll go!" Krayonder exclaimed.

He grabbed Taz's shoulder and began leading her away. Taz knew that Krayonder probably only offered to help because he didn't want to get called up to go, but didn't care. She felt as though she could black out at any moment. Krayonder led her to the kitchen area where he pulled several items out of a bin. He told Taz to hold out her hands and then poured a clear liquid over them. The substance bubbled on her wounded skin and stung badly. She took a quick intake of breath, but tried to hide the pain. Krayonder helped clean off the blood with an alcohol wipe, which hurt almost as much as the peroxide had, and bandage the hands in gauze. He handed her an ice pack and they began to head back to join the others. Taz pressed the ice pack to her head and immediately felt a little better as the coolness touched the injury.

"Well, well, well, look what we've got here."

Taz turned. Junior was in the doorway of his tent, smirking at her.

"Second day of training and you're already injured," Junior laughed, "Not as tough as you thought you were, huh?"

"At least I _do_ something. I don't sit around all day like a lazy ass."

Krayonder tugged on Taz's sleeve, trying to pull her away, and hissed under his breath, "Taz, that's, like, the head of the league's son, man! Cut it out!"

Junior just glared down at Taz. "You had better watch yourself. I'll make your time here hell," he said with an evil grin and walked away.

As if it wasn't hell enough already.


	8. Chapter 8

The next six days passed slowly. They continued to switch back and forth with the morning exercises, doing the hell run one day and the tree climb attempt the next, but in the afternoon they always did something different. This time they were doing one-on-one combat practice with no zappers. Taz had been partnered up with Bug and this made her very happy. He was the smallest one in the group and would be a piece of cake to take down. Taz wanted to look like she knew what she was doing when they began. She was still trying to get some sort of praise from Commander Up, but she had noticed that in the past three days his expression had been the same, a deep, disapproving scowl. It made her try to work harder, but she was finding it difficult. Taz really wasn't eating too much and the hard forest floor was finally starting to get to her back, making it uneasy to get sleep. Cachondo was worried and kept saying that she didn't look well, but Taz always just yelled at him to leave her alone and swatted at him with her bandaged hands. They were healing, but still looked raw and gross. Taz hated having to clean them and replace the bandages.

She and Bug circled for a while. Then bug leaned forward, stretching out a small orange fist. He really didn't seem to be into the whole fighting thing. That just made it easier for Taz. She dodged Bug's poor punch and kicked him in the abdomen. The insect fell back and slid several inches. Taz looked around, hoping that Commander Up had seen her perfectly delivered blow, but he had his back turned to her and was watching another pair. Bug got back to his feel and was immediately knocked down again by a punch to the jaw. Tootsie leaned down to help Bug, causing the kick that Krayonder had aimed at him to get Taz in the gut. She doubled over and uttered every Spanish swear word she knew followed by some ones she made up that sounded equally as bad.

"Ah, I'm sorry, man!" Krayonder exclaimed.

"Nice hit, Krayonder," Commander Up said, "Taz, get back up."

Taz groaned. Of course the commander had picked _that_ moment to be looking her way.

That evening, Taz was in her tent with Cachondo. The dog was gnawing on a broken tree branch that Taz had brought him as a makeshift toy. It was silent in the forest. The men had ended their nightly bonfire about an hour earlier. Taz tossed and turned uncomfortably in her sleeping bag. IT would probably feel better on her back if she laid on top of the sleeping bag, but it was too chilly for that even though it was the end of July. She flipped over onto her back once more, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up. That boyish haircut didn't cover her cold ears and it was really starting to piss her off. Sure, it was easy to clean in the stream, but the short hair just felt weird. Taz finally just sat up and decided to go for a walk. Maybe if she hit the point of pure exhaustion, she'd finally get some sleep.

Taz stood slowly, stepping around Cachondo, who had just fallen asleep with his branch still in his paws. As she got outside, stretching backward to attempt to crack her back, her muscles ached. She was sore all over from all of the exercises. Ignoring the protests of her worn-out legs, Taz began to walk through the forest. Several minutes later, he bottom half was freezing, but she didn't care. While most of the other men went to training topless with shorts, Taz always wore pants and slightly baggy shirts to conceal the parts of her body that could give her away, like her legs and her chest. At night, she would always wear small cotton shorts, a sports bra, and one of her brothers' sweatshirts for a little comfort and freedom.

Soon Taz found herself approaching the lake. It was so beautiful at night, dazzling blue with a reflection of the crescent shaped moon. She got closer, hoping to put her feet in the cool water, but then the surface broke. A large figure emerged and Taz scurried behind some bushes. She poked through the leaves a little to see what was going on. As the person waded through the water towards the shore, it became quite obvious who it was. Commander Up stepped out of the lake wearing only a pair of soaked boxers that clung to his legs. Water dripped off of his muscular body. The moonlight illuminated him perfectly as he dried his face with a shirt before pulling it over his head, concealing the broad chest that Taz hadn't been able to resist looking at. Through the chill of the night she felt her cheeks burning as she watched Commander Up go back to his tent.

It wasn't until he had been out of sight for several minutes that Taz actually thought about what wad just happened. She hadn't been _attracted_ to the commander, had she? No. Of course not. She had just never stopped and taken a long look at his physical features. Taz was always too busy trying not to get yelled at by Commander Up that she had never noticed his sculpted arms, his muscled chest, or the short, light brown hairs growing above his upper lip indicating that he was possibly trying to grow in a moustache. All of this had simply been too much to take in at once. It didn't mean anything. That's what Taz kept telling herself as she climbed out of the shrubs and resumed her walk.

"Get a hold of jourself," she said, "Just because he's the only guy here who's not wimpy or obnoxious doesn't mean that jou can like him."

Taz continued on, wandering the forest and giving herself a long speech about how that moment with Commander Up had meant nothing whatsoever. She had no clue what time it was, but her feeling of tiredness had passed. It would only hit her harder later, though. Her feet guided her while her brain was completely befuddled. Maybe it was her lack of sleep or maybe her head injury from a few days earlier that was making her feel so odd. Taz hadn't even been looking at her surroundings, but then she looked around and recognized a tall, wide tree. Sitting near the trunk was the zapper and ammo belt. Commander Up had left them there two days before due to his annoyance at the constant failure of his recruits.

Taz didn't know what she was doing. She was not in control of her actions at the moment. Soon the zapper was across her back and she was holding the ammo belt in her gauze wrapped hands. She pulled the belt back and flung it towards a tall branch. It wrapped around several times. Taz grasped one of the neon tubes and used it to pull herself up the belt. She continued this, using the zapper refills like rungs on a ladder to climb. Upon reaching the top of that branch, she tossed the ammo belt around the next one and went on. Something had given her the motivation to get to the top of this thing and she was going to use it.


	9. Chapter 9

**I've hidden several Mulan quotes and StarKid references in here, so try to look for them! ;D **

The large group assembled around the base of the giant tree the next morning. They were all way too tired to notice that there was someone missing. Commander Up came forward, looking as unhappy as ever.

"Well, come on!" he growled, "Let's get down to business to defeat the metal ones. Did they send me daughters when I asked for sons?"

The men ceased their slouching, awaiting orders. They gulped as the commander looked around for the objects that he had left.

"Alright, where did the gun and the belt go?" he asked, his gaze traveling from person to person as if peering into their soul to find the guilty man.

They were deadly silent.

"OW!" Krayonder suddenly yelled.

He rubbed the top of his head and looked down to see what had hit him. A crushed soda can was lying by his feet. Everyone, even Commander Up, looked above to try to figure out where it had come from. There was a rustling in the leaves. The group crowded around closer to get a better view. A moment later a pair of tan legs appeared. As they descended, the rest of the body came into view and all the men gasped. It was Taz.

She jumped down and landed on her feet. The sleeves of her sweatshirt were pushed up, the zapper was across her back, and the ammo belt was wound tightly around her waist. Taz was worried about so much of her body being visible, but the men were looking only at the bundle off food in her arms. There was a box of crackers, a jar of peanut butter, all the ingredients for s'mores, and a six pack of cola, even though technically now it was a five pack due to one being missing. She took off the belt and zapper, but kept a tight hold on her prize. There was a clap, then another. Commander Up had started it slowly and the others began to join in. Taz stood still, watching the awed crowd that was now clapping, whistling, and congratulating her. The commander came up and slapped a strong hand onto Taz's shoulder. Her legs nearly buckled, but she couldn't tell whether it was because of the force on her exhausted limbs or because of the fact that her whole body tingled when Commander Up made contact with her.

"Nice job, Taz," Commander Up said, revealing the smallest smile that Taz had ever seen, but it was still a smile. "I think you deserve the rest of the morning off."

"_Gracías_," Taz muttered.

She began to head to her tent, but then one of the guys yelled, "Aren't you gonna share?"

"Here, fight over these," she called back, tossing the five connected soda cans, "They're flat."

By the sound of punched being thrown and yelling that followed it was obvious that the men didn't care about the lack of carbonation. Taz dragged herself to her tent, dropped her food, and fell face first onto her sleeping back, falling asleep instantly. Her idea that going for a walk would tire her out had been correct, but she'd done a lot more than go out for a stroll. Taz's dreams were in shades of blue. It started it the lake, then up to the sky, the ocean, a giant sapphire, and then a gorgeous pair of eyes. The feeling of something wet on her hand woke her up. What had those images meant? Taz didn't know and shook the thought away. After all, it had only been a dream.

"Where have you been? And why aren't you at training?" Cachondo asked, sounding very much like an annoying mother.

"I don't need to be questioned by jou, _perrito_," Taz said grumpily, "I went for a walk and then decided to climb that giant tree, so the commander gave me the morning off."

"So is that where the food came from?"

"_Sí_. I'm going to need jou to be a good guard dog while I'm gone later."

Cachondo trotted over to the pile of food and sat in front of it with his head held high and his ears perked up to listen for any burglars. Taz chuckled and rolled over to get some more much deserved sleep.

When lunchtime rolled around a well rested and happy Taz exited her tent, leaving Cachondo behind on watch. She wasn't going to waste her reward. It would be better if saved, eaten slowly over time. Maybe it was the sweet taste of victory left on her taste buds, but lunch didn't seem to taste as bad as usual. After eating, Taz and the men marched out to a clearing where Commander Up was waiting with zappers and targets taped to trees. The large guns were lined up, one for each recruit. Taz groaned. Her shoulders till hurt from having one of those on nearly all morning.

"Alright, boys," Commander Up said, "Each of you grab a zapper."

Everyone hoisted one up and put the strap on.

"Now, I've set up targets and holograms in the area, so get shooting. Just try not to shoot each other, will you? That's paperwork that I do not want to handle."

The group cheered and scattered. Taz held her zapper in the ready position, but didn't shoot. The first time that she had practiced shooting one, the kickback had knocked her onto her butt and although she was getting stronger, it still hurt her arms, so she only wanted to fire if she had the perfect shot, unlike the others who were shooting at everything. Taz wondered if she could shoot at Junior's tent and get away with it. She decided against it, though, and took aim at the target on the tree. Pain shot up to her shoulder, but it wasn't as bad as it had been a few days earlier. The blast had shot a hole in the tree less than an inch from the center of the bulls-eye. Taz smirked. She was getting better.

Then a shout echoed through the forest. "Deadgoddamnit! Watch where you're shooting!"

Taz turned to see Commander Up getting back on his feet. Part of his light brown hair was smoking.

"That's it! We're gonna kick it up a notch!" he exclaimed, "You see all those robot holograms? I'm gonna put them on Battle Mode. Let's see how many of you would survive war!"

Commander Up pulled out a remote and hit a button. The holograms that had been popping up for target practice faltered for a moment and then reappeared with a crazy look in their digital eyes. Taz scoffed and crossed her arms. Sure, they looked very lifelike, but they were projections! How much damage could they do? Then one raised its arm and fired at one of the men. A blue beam hit him and he fell unconscious.

"Well, looks like Blim's dead. Who's gonna be next?" the commander said, looking pleased at everyone's terrified expressions.

Taz looked away from the man and asked, "Is he really dead?"

"No, he's not really dead. Do you think I'd take the time to train all of you if I'd just kill you before we even went to war? He'll just be knocked out until I turn the holograms off. Now forget him and fight, damnit!"

The group spun around as one. The robot holograms were moving closer. The men did the only thing they knew how to; they turned and ran, screaming for their lives. Taz was the only one who stayed and fired several shots. A few of the holograms fizzled away, but the others were beginning to surround her, so she sprinted after the other recruits, shooting over her shoulder and trying not to run into any trees.

When she caught up to the guys, she screamed, "Jou _idiotas_! Get back out there and fight! Grow a pair! They're just pictures!"

They all ignored her, though. Tootsie, Krayonder, Bug ran past her.

Tootsie was bright in the face, looking ready to cry. "I'm never gonna catch my breath!"

Bug weakly exclaimed, "Say goodbye to those who knew me!"

Krayonder was panting and grabbing his side. "Boy, was I a fool in school for cutting gym!"

Suddenly, everyone was in a heap on the ground. It was unclear who had tripped first, but whoever it was had brought all the others down with him like a set of dominoes. Taz angrily shoved Bug off of her.

"Come on! Get up!" she yelled.

"I'm _tired_," one complained, "Can't we just be robot food?"

Taz growled and shot the holograms as they neared. Her anger seemed to make her aiming more precise. There were about seven left when suddenly they all just vanished. Commander Up towered over all of them. The slight look of happiness from that morning was gone. Hadn't he seen her shooting those things? Hadn't he heard her trying to get everyone else to try? Apparently not. Taz dropped her zapper and tried to hide behind the guys she was trapped under as he glared down at each and every one of them.

"We're done for today. You're the saddest bunch I've ever met, but you can bet before we're through, mister, I'll make a man out of you."


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN! My baby is officially ten chapters old! :D**

After dinner when Taz was taking her tray back to the kitchen area, the men convinced her to go to that night's bonfire and share her s'mores. Well, it was more like they annoyed her until she was forced to either agree or murder every single one of them. Taz stomped back to her tent to get the food. Cachondo was sprawled out snoring. Some guard dog he was.

The guys were much happier than Taz was as they started up the bonfire pit. She sat on a log in the back row with her arms crossed, watching them fight over her hard earned snacks. Had they gotten sap all over themselves? _No_. Had they nearly fallen from the very top? No! Had they been poked in the eyes by pine needles? NO! Taz dug the toe of her sneaker into the dirt. A slimy gray worm wriggled out to escape being squished. A moment later it was being flung through the air and landed on the back of Krayonder's neck. He twitched, then reached to scratch his neck, but touched the worm that was trying to climb inside his shirt. Krayonder leapt up, screaming and trying to shake the thing off of his hand. Taz laughed proudly. _Now_ this was turning into a decent evening.

"Get it off! Get it off!" Krayonder yelled.

"Throw it into the fire!" Tootsie suggested, but stayed far away himself.

Bug ran towards the flailing man. "No, no! Don't do that!"

Bug grabbed the worm off of Krayonder's hand and began speaking in some strange language that pretty much just sounded like growling. He went over and dropped the worm on a bush. Taz rolled her eyes. There went her entertainment. Soon the men were running around as if they had been given booze, not graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows. They laughed loudly at stupid jokes with melted chocolate around their mouths. Several nearly stumbled into the fire. One guy with a guitar was leading a sing along. He was usually a douche bag, playing guitar when everyone else just wanted to hang out, but Taz actually didn't mind it so much right now. As he skipped by, Tootsie grabbed Taz's arm. As she jumped around with the others, Taz realized how much she had been missing when she sat in her tent every night with Cachondo, listening to the party going on out here. It was rather fun. Suddenly, though, everything stopped. The music ended abruptly and everyone froze. Taz turned, her smile falling instantly. There stood Junior with a mesh bag in his hands and a smirk that couldn't mean anything good.

"I need a volunteer," he said.

Taz was too busy glaring at him to notice that all the others had taken a step backwards, leaving her up front.

Junior laughed, "Thanks, Taz. Here's my laundry. Oh, and if you try anything funny, I will see to it that all of your belongings are confiscated…by the river."

"Why jou little…" Taz growled, taking a step forward, but Krayonder reached out and grabbed the back of her shirt.

"I want it done by tomorrow morning," Junior said, then added in an awful Spanish accent, "_Gracías_, _amigo_."

Taz angrily snatched the bag of clothes and spun around.

"So I share my stuff with jou and _this_ is how jou all repay me? Jou guys are the best," she said sarcastically.

The men just shrugged, put out the fire, and headed to their tents. Taz felt her fingers itch with the urge to strangle each of them. She marched off toward the lake, not caring if the bag of Junior's clothes dragged on the ground. What did she care if that jerk tossed all of her stuff in the lake? It wouldn't mat- Damnit, it _would _matter. Taz could only imagine what would happen if Junior flung her bag into the river and bras and other girl stuff flew out of it. After thinking of all the possible scenarios, Taz decided to lift the bag off the ground a little. She kneeled beside the lake and started dunking shirts under the water. How anyone thought that this water would actually clean clothes, she didn't know. Several minutes later when she was still trying to scrub, Taz began to appreciate all those years that Mama had been doing the laundry by hand. This was awful.

"_Estúpido_ Junior and his damn clothes," Taz muttered, "Lazy bastard can do _nada_ on his own. If he's as important as he says he is, jou'd think someone would get him a deadgoddamn washing machine."

A deep laugh came from behind her. Taz whipped her head around and, much to her shock, saw the commander standing there. She had never seen Commander Up really smile before, so seeing him laugh was mind blowing. It seemed impossible. Taz's eyes widened. Oh, deadgod, he wasn't going to tell Junior what she had said….was he? He just laughed more.

"Jou…jou don't like him either?"

Up snorted mid-laugh. "Taz, I don't think _anyone_ likes Junior. Except maybe his mom…. That boy has been a pain in my ass ever since we got here. You know, that kid is ten years younger than me and he's technically my boss? I don't think that kid has ever even lifted a zapper."

"Ten years? There is no way that jou are ten years older than him. Jou don't look old," Taz said as the commander sat down beside her.

"Looks can be deceiving," Commander Up sighed, "I'll be thirty next year and I already found a few gray hairs the other day. It's these damn robot wars and these wimpy boys. They're making me older."

Taz just nodded and continued washing.

The commander continued. "I know I may be real tough on you boys, but it's just 'cause I don't want you all to die in an instant when we go to battle. I've seen rangers die in front of me before, but you guys are _my_ responsibility and…. Well, if you kiddos get shot down because you suck, it'll be my fault."

Taz stopped for a moment. Was Commander Up saying that he _cared_ about them? He was showing more emotions in the last few minutes than Taz had seen from him in the entire time that she'd been at camp. The two were silent for a longwhile after that. Taz kept expecting him to get up and leave, but the commander just sat there. She eventually finished and laid Junior's stuff out on the grass to dry.

"Uh, Commander Up?" Taz asked tentatively.

"Huh?"

"Do you…. Well…. How many of us do jou think will die during the war?"

Commander Up thought for a moment. "To be honest, I know that there are a few in this camp that won't make it, but I'm gonna try my damned hardest to make that number as low as possible."

Taz pulled her knees up to her chest. It wasn't until now that she had even thought of the fact that she could easily die whenever they were shipped out to a real warzone.

"I'm pretty confident in you, though, Taz. You've made a big improvement."

"Really?" she questioned, trying to nonchalantly cover her face as she felt herself blush.

Commander Up nodded and grinned at her. Taz pretended to cough. Deadgoddamnit, what was going on with her face? Why was it getting so hot? They were quiet once more. The others were all in their tents. The only sounds were crickets and the occasional owl hooting.

"Commander Up?" Taz asked again.

"You can just call me Up. There's no need to put 'Commander' in front of it every time."

"Oh…uh, okay…"

Up laughed again. "Well, come on! What were you gonna ask me?"

"It's kind of a stupid question."

"Who cares? We have nothing better to do."

"Who do jou think would survive longer in battle, Junior or that _idiota_ Krayonder?"

"Even though Krayonder is a total candyass, I'd have to pick him."

"What about Krayonder and Tootsie Noodles?"

"Hmm…. I'm gonna still go with Krayonder. At least I know that there's no chance of him shooting himself."

Taz laughed harder than she had in a long time. Up laughed with her. The rest of the night, even after the two had folded Junior's dry clothes and returned them to the bag, Up and Taz talked and laughed about all the other recruits.


	11. Chapter 11

Eventually Taz and Up returned Junior's laundry. They left the mesh bag outside of his tent and may or may not have 'accidently' let it drag through some poison ivy on their way there. The two then parted and went to their tents. Due to the time that they went to bed, there was not much sleep. Taz awoke a few hours later in a very grumpy mood, but dragged herself to breakfast anyway with the hopes of being able to hang out with Up again. It was weird even in her mind to be calling him 'Up' instead of 'Commander Up'. The more she thought about it, though, the more she liked the way that it sounded.

Up wasn't at breakfast. Taz honestly didn't know why she thought that he would be. He had never shown up for it before, so why start now? This only put Taz in a worse mood. She was still ignoring all the guys, but they didn't even seem to notice. They all seemed to still be on a sugar high. Bug, who Taz began to think had never eaten candy before, appeared to have a brighter orange hue and one of his giant blue eyes kept on twitching. Taz found it rather amusing and watched as he tried to eat with a hand that was quivering intensely.

Training that day proved not to be as fun as Taz had hoped that it would be. She had been expecting her and Up to be on better grounds now that they had had a real conversation and gotten to know each other a little better. That was not what happened, though. Up was as tough on her as ever. He still yelled and reprimanded and insulted. Taz had been used to getting that from the commander, but she had been convinced that they had gotten closer, so now it was even harder to take.

That continued for the next several days. Taz began going back into seclusion. She rarely spoke to anyone and at now when she couldn't sleep instead of walking she would practice her martial arts more. It helped in two ways, by letting her get out her anger and progress even more in her training. The only thing that had actually made Taz smile in the past days was the fact that Junior had suddenly broken out with red blotches and his mother had come to take him home for a while.

One evening after dinner Taz decided to take advantage of the last moments of sunlight and sit by the lake with a book that she had brought with her. She sat cross legged with the book in her lap while Cachondo was nearby chasing a dragonfly. It felt nice to just sit and read. She hadn't done it in a long, long time. With her head absorbed in the pages, Taz didn't hear the sound of people approaching.

"Hey, guys, look at Taz!"

"Awh, is he reading?"

"Can he even read English? I mean, he doesn't even speak it fluently."

Taz slammed the book shut. "Do jou boys have something that jou would like to say to _mi cara_?"

"See what I mean!"

Now they were in for it. Taz was not going to put up with this. She set her book down and stormed towards the men, although that wasn't the word that she would prefer to call them. Each had a good foot on her, but she had always been able to take down her older brothers.

A few minutes later Taz came to the realization that perhaps her brothers had been letting her beat them all those years. This idea didn't hit her until she was pinned to the ground in a chokehold, though. She squirmed and tried to trash her arms, but two of the guys were holding her arms down while the other kneeled on her lower half with his hands at her throat. Okay, maybe Taz shouldn't have told them that she had descended from a long line of Latino wrestlers, but she had gotten caught up in the moment and it was the only threat that she could think of. After delivering a kick in the groin to one of them another tackled her to the ground. Taz saw black dots in her vision as it got harder to breathe.

"Hey, cut it out, twerps!"

Taz felt an enormous weight lifted from her chest a moment later. One guy was in the fetal position and the other two had leapt away, their eyes wide with fear. Up appeared over her and held out his hand. Taz grabbed it and Up pulled her to her feet.

"You okay, Taz?"

She nodded.

"Well, they won't be," Up glanced at the three guys and then grinned at Taz, "Get on my back."

"What?"

"Oh, come on! Climb on up!"

Taz gripped Up's hand once more, stepped on his bent leg, and clambered onto his back. She could barely even get her legs around him. Up didn't even wait until Taz had a firm grip on his neck. He just took off charging towards the three boys. They screamed the entire way as the two person team chased them, one laughing and the other shouting slurs in Spanish. Eventually the bullies tripped and flew right into the dumpster behind the kitchen area, scaring the daylights out of Tootsie, Bug, and Krayonder who were cleaning. Up went over to the dumpster and looked in. Taz peered over the top of his head. The boys were covered in garbage and groaning. Up lifted a hand and Taz high fived him. She then spat at the bullies and leapt down from Up's back.

"Thank jou," she smiled.

Up nodded. "Couldn't have those idiots killing my best recruit, now could I?"

"Hey!" Krayonder exclaimed.

Up just shrugged. He turned back to Taz and said, "You gotta be more careful, Taz. I won't always be there to shove those dumbasses off of you."

"Yes, sir," Taz smirked.

Up turned and walked away. One guy tried pulling himself out of the dumpster. Taz smacked a hand to his forehead and forced him back in. She went back to grab her book and then returned to her tent. That had been fun, but made absolutely no sense. Up had been practically ignoring her all week, but then all of a sudden he comes to her rescue? Then it hit her. What had he said the other night? _"I know I may be real tough on you boys, but it's just 'cause I don't want you all to die in an instant when we go to battle."_ Up didn't want to be friendly during training because he wanted to push her harder so she would be prepared. He was looking out for her by not being nice all the time. Maybe they were better friends than Taz had been thinking all week.


	12. Chapter 12

Two days later the group was running. A few were still on the verge of passing out, but mostly everyone was doing much better. In the middle of their workout Junior, who had just recently returned, hurried up to them, planting deeply. A lot of the guys, and Taz, snickered. It was the first time that ant of them had ever seen Junior exerting energy, so it was quite funny to see him red in the face and gasping for breath.

"Com-m-mander Up, Admiral Beatty just arrived and wants to sp-speak with you. She says it's urgent."

"Okay, I'm coming," Up said and looked over the men, "Uh, Taz, you're in charge until I get back."

Up turned and walked briskly away with Junior scurrying to walk alongside him. The men gave a cheer when the two were out of sight and slumped against anything nearby.

"Hey, what do jou perezosos think jou're doing?" Taz asked angrily, "Did I tell jou to do that?"

Krayonder groaned. "Come on, Taz. Don't be a dick. Give us a break."

"Everybody, all of jou, drop and give me fifty pushups! I want to see jour noses touch the ground!"

Meanwhile, Up and Junior had just returned to the main camp. A woman stood waiting beside a drop pod in a one piece dark green G.L.E.E. jumpsuit covered in pins commemorating various awards. She turned, unsmiling, and shook hands with Up. He could just tell that something was wrong.

"What can I do for you, Admiral?"

"There have been reports that an attack from the robots is planned on the planet of Tennith. We are running low on crews and rangers, so we're turning to our recruit camps. You and your ensigns will be flying out tomorrow morning."

"So you're sending us out because there're some _rumors_ about an attack?"

"Commander, we are not basing this mission on _rumors_, we are basing it on reports from a source that has been very reliable. I am not happy with this plan either. If it were up to me, we would be sending more advanced rangers, but your _boys_ are all that we have, unfortunately," Admiral Beatty said.

Up couldn't help but catch the bitterness in her voice when she said 'boys'. He knew that Dr. Spaceclaw's decision to only allow men to enter training camps had upset many of the women that were already in the league, so he let her attitude slide. Admiral Beatty was known for being a calm, kind leader and Up could tell that the stress of the ongoing war was probably getting to her. It surely had been getting to him, so he understood. Admiral Beatty departed with a nod and a wish of good luck to Up.

"Don't worry, Commander Up," Junior said with a pleased smirk, "I'll watch over the camp while you're gone."

"What are you talking about, Junior? You're our League Ambassador. You've gotta come with us."

"Wait, what? Co- Commander! Commander U- Come ba-!"

Up chuckled to himself as he walked away and Junior's panicked voice died out. He eventually heard his recruits up ahead and approached quietly to see what they were up to. Taz was standing atop a tree stump yelling at everyone else as they did sit-ups.

One suddenly twitched and leapt to his feet. "I just got stung by a bee!"

Taz jumped off of her perch and over to the man. He was quite taller than Taz, but by the expression on his face, Up couldn't tell if the guy was more scared of his bee sting or Taz.

"Oh, did that hurt jou?" Taz pouted with obviously fake sympathy, "WALK IT OFF!"

With that, Taz shoved the guy to her him going and ordered everyone else to follow. Taz ran behind them, shouting loudly as she went. Up jogged to her beside her just as she was screaming at Bug to be a man, not a lady bug.

"You sure are getting good at the insults," Up grinned.

"Well, I learned from the best," Taz replied, then turned her head and yelled, "HOLMES! Don't jou help that _idiota_! It's his fault he got stung by a bee! If jou don't want to get stung by my foot up jour ass, jou had better keep running!"

Up's face was red with laughter. "Damn, Taz, you may end up putting me out of a job."

There was only one mile left in the run, so Up just let Taz continue as leader. He found it quite entertaining to see someone so small terrify such a large group. Taz noticed that and thought to herself how much more amusing Up would find it if he knew that it was not only a small person, but a small _girl_ who was doing that. After finishing, Up held everyone back for a moment before lunch.

"Okay, boys, we have the rest of the day off of training-"

The group cheered.

"_But_," Up continued, "It's because we're shipping out tomorrow morning. This afternoon we'll be setting each of you up with your own zapper and uniform."

The smiles on everyone's faces vanished.

**So, I had to make the Admiral be Jaime, because she really doesn't have a big part in Starship and the mosquito brothers aren't in here. …..And I love her…. **

**ANYWAY, sneak peek for next chapter! ;D **

**"What do we want?" **

**"A GIRL WORTH FIGHTING FOR!" **

**Oh, and the part where Taz was saying Holmes would get stung by her foot up his ass, all I could think of was Red from That 70's Show. XD**


	13. Chapter 13

After lunch, everyone gathered around a large box filled with what Up called 'semi-used uniforms'. Taz did not believe that in the slightest, though. It appeared to her that they were _way_ more than 'semi-used'. A few shirts had dried blood stains on them that led Taz to believe that someone had bled out and died in them. Everything that she pulled out seemed to drown her in the material. She finally settled with black cargo pants, a gray shirt that was still several sizes too big, and a black padded vest over the top. There had only been about seven of the bulletproof vests and everyone was desperate to get one. Taz ended up nearly breaking one guy's nose when she punched him to get the vest that she now wore.

The box was getting more and more empty. As Taz went to step away, as satisfied as she could be with her uniform, she noticed something at the bottom of the box. Underneath bland articles of black, white, gray, beige, navy blue, and forest green laid a bright red piece of fabric. Taz yanked it out to see little stars, suns, and moons all over it. She rubbed the surprisingly soft square of fabric with her fingers.

"You made a good find."

Taz turned to Up with a confused expression. "What is it?"

"It's a bandana," Up answered, "You put it on your head. Here, I'll show you."

Taz watched silently as Up took the bandana from her hands and folded it into a long rectangle. Up stepped closer to put it around Taz's head. Trying to ignore the fact that her face was nearly in Up's chest and that she could feel his breath on the top of her head, Taz directed her eyes to their feet.

"There you go," Up smiled as he stepped back, "It suits you well. Why don't you go look and see?"

The lake didn't give the best reflection, but Taz was able to catch a glimpse of herself. The bandana went around the front of her head and did a good job of keeping her floppy boyish hair out of her eyes. She liked it.

Later that night the entire camp, excluding Junior who was still freaking out about having to go, was around the bonfire pit. The boys had been fearful about Up being there at first, but after a while they got used to it and became their crazy selves. As they wound down hours later the topic came up of the mission and the possibility of death.

"Hey, guys, let's talk about something else," one guy suggested.

"Like what?" everyone else questioned.

"Well, uh, how about…. A girl worth fighting for!"

"Huh?"

"That's what I said! A girl worth fighting for!"

Taz rolled her eyes as the men sighed in unison and got a dreamy look in their eyes. She had only agreed to go to the bonfire because Up said that he was going. Spending the evening asleep in her tent would've been perfectly fine with her. Cachondo was currently not talking to Taz, but she really didn't care that much. If he was going to be like that when they would most likely never see each other again then there was really nothing that Taz could do. She turned her attention back to the guys.

Bug nudged Up and said, "I bet the local girls thought you were quite the charmer."

Taz watched Up as he chuckled, but she couldn't help thinking that the statement had been true.

"And I'll bet all them ladies sure do love a man in armor!" Tootsie squealed.

"My girl will think that I have no faults, that I'm a major find!" Krayonder exclaimed and flexed.

Taz angrily piped up with, "How about a girl with a brain? Who always speaks her mind?"

Everyone else turned to her like she was crazy. "NAH!"

At that moment, Junior stormed up in his pajamas with ruffled hair and a not-amused expression. Taz, Up, and the others tried to hide their snickers as best as possible when they spotted Junior's Superman pajama pants.

"What is going on out here?" Junior demanded.

"We're talking about babes, man!" Krayonder explained.

At this, Junior smirked and proudly said, "Well, I've got a girl back home who's unlike any other."

Taz leaned over to Up and no-so-quietly whispered, "Yeah, the only _chica_ who'd love him is his mother."

Junior whipped his head and flashed Taz an angry glare, but she just shrugged.

"But when we come home in victory, they'll line up at the door." Up threw one arm around Tootsie and the other around Taz and continued with, "What do we want?"

"A GIRL WORTH FIGHTING FOR!"

Bug chimed in. "Wish that I had-!"

"A GIRL WORTH FIGHTING FOR!"

"Alright, lady-killers, time for bed. We got some robot-ass to whoop tomorrow!" Up said and shooed everyone off.

Taz crawled into her tent to find that Cachondo still wasn't there. She hadn't been wanting to admit it, but she really would be sad if she never saw him again. There were more important things going on at the moment than a talking puppy being mad at her, though. Taz needed to get a good night's rest if she wanted to stand a chance in battle.

The next morning, the wake-up call was earlier and louder than usual. With nervous and partially excited energy, Taz leapt up, pulled on her vest, and grabbed her zapper. Each of the recruits had been issued their own zapper and Taz practically fell in love with hers the moment it was in her hands. After she had gotten it the day before, she sat beside the lake and polished it as best as she could. Taz was terrified for her life, but somewhere deep down inside there was a huge itch to fire that zapper until every last one of those robots were dead, just like her brothers.

Many of the boys hadn't wanted to eat breakfast that morning, but Up ordered each of them to consume something. Their stomachs churned with the thought of what they would soon be facing, but fighting on an empty stomach wouldn't help anyone. After the extremely quiet meal, Up directed them all to the ship that awaited them. Everyone looked at the giant, shiny white and silver ship in awe. It was magnificent compared to the drop-pod that they had arrived at camp in.

"Starship 15-A2," Up said as he ran his hand over the smooth exterior, "Isn't she a beauty? And she's all ours, boys."

They boarded the ship to find Junior already inside. As they walked past him, Taz caught a glimpse of his watery eyes and thought for a moment that he had been crying, but then smelled weed and rolled her eyes. Up told them that it would take about a full day to get to their destination and to just make sure that they didn't break anything. While a majority of the others ran off to explore the rest of the ship, Taz followed Up to the cockpit where he sat and began to push several buttons.

"Do jou have to fly this thing for an entire day?" Taz asked.

"Nah, I just gotta punch in some coordinates and this baby'll fly itself. Well, unless we run into something out there, then I'll have to steer, but I doubt that'll happen."

"What do all these different buttons do? They're so many of them."

For the first part of their trip, Up explained to Taz exactly what every single button, lever, and computer in the cockpit did. They heard loud ruckuses coming from all over the ship, but decided to just let whatever was going on work out itself as they gazed silently out the giant front window. Taz was amazed by how Up could look at the expanse of space as though it was the first time he saw it even though he had been doing it for a long time. She hoped that she could be like that if she ever became as great a ranger as him. Eventually, though, Taz felt the need to break the silence again with a question that had been bugging her for a while.

"Up, where are jou from?"

"Little town in the middle of nowhere in Alabama. Sweet little place, but boring as hell," Up answered, "What about you?"

"Mexico. I kinda figured that that was obvious."

"Well, I didn't just wanna assume that you were from there."

They turned their attention back to the never ending beauty in front of them. A few minutes later, Up spoke again.

"I was on a mission in Mexico a couple of years ago."

Taz turned. "Really?"

"Yeah, it…it didn't go too well, though."

"_¿Por que?_ Er, I mean… Why?"

Up sighed and answered, "Well, we just didn't get there in time. We were supposed to be following this robot ship and taking them out, but they got to the ground before us and took over some town. There weren't that many of us rangers, so we all split up. By the time I found a group of robots they had begun attacking at some sort of party. So many people were already dead. I only managed to save one; a little girl."

Taz didn't answer. She directed her gaze to one of the buttons on the control panel. It felt like her brain had just imploded.


	14. Chapter 14

**I apologize for this turning into such a drama. I reread the last chapter and just facepalmed. **

**I hope that badass explosions make up for all the dramaticness of the last chapter. XD**

Taz couldn't think straight. She stood and left the cockpit without a word. All the loud noises of the men and the ship just buzzed in her ears. Taz eventually found an empty room, although it was some sort of supply closet, and shut herself inside. She pressed her forehead against a wall.

Up was the man from her party.

Up was the one who saved her life.

_Up._

It was just too much to take. Taz slid down the wall and sat herself down on the ground. It was pitch black in the tiny room, but she didn't care. So many thoughts ran through her head that Taz was sure her skull would crack open and spill them all out. Something had always seemed familiar about Up, but never in a million years would she have thought that this was the reason why. Now that she thought about it, this did explain why she felt so weird around him.

...Didn't it?

Twice Taz heard feet pounding past the closet and men chattering excitedly about food, but she remained right where she was. Eventually the light coming in from underneath the door dimmed and the noise died down until the only sound throughout the ship was the hum of the engine and various snores. Taz was happy to step out into the deserted hall. The closet had smelled intensely of bleach and that had done nothing to help her deadgoddamn headache. Now Taz just had to find a place to sleep. Her new boots weren't exactly quiet, so she walked slowly. Each of them had half of an old ripped shirt stuffed into the toes because of how big they were on her.

She stopped abruptly when a strange sound caught her attention. _Thump, thump, thump._ Taz's hands found the zapper that was currently across her back. _Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. _Was there a robot? If there was then Taz was in the state of mind that she would gleefully blow it away without a thought. _Thump, thump. _She approached the sound at the end of the hall cautiously. _Thump, thump, thump._ Zapper at the ready and...

"_Cachondo?_" Taz hissed.

"Taz!"

She lowered the gun with a huff. "What the hell are jou doing here?"

"I'm glad to see you, too," the data-dog said as he stretched, "I couldn't just stay behind. I was worried about you, so I came along."

"Yeah, because if something were to happen to me, I'll definitely be okay if I have a _perrito _by my side."

Taz rolled her eyes. Just what she needed right now; a genius puppy who always seemed to want to talk about stupid things like _problems _and _feelings_. She almost wished that that thumping noise had been a robot and not Cachondo's tail smacking the floor.

"Just come on," Taz sighed, "I need to get some sleep."

They ended up in the only spot on the ship that Taz knew. It also happened to be the place that she least wanted to be. She curled into one of the seats in the cockpit with Cachondo right beside her, radiating heat like a canine blanket. In a matter of minutes, the hum of the ship and the breathing of the puppy beside her lulled Taz into a much needed sleep.

The next morning she was awoken by various noises. The sound that caught her attention most, though, was approaching footsteps. Taz grabbed Cachondo by his middle and dove underneath the control panel. Cachondo yelped in alarm, but Taz muffled him with her hand. She wasn't sure what would happen if Up found out her dog was on the ship. The door opened and feet appeard.

Wait…

Those weren't Up's shoes…

"Deadgoddamned Commander making me come here," a voice mumbled bitterly, "It's six in the damn morning."

Taz slid farther back. It was Junior. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed to deadgod that he would just leave. _Go. Don't sit down. Go away. Don't sit down. _And…..he sat down. For the next several minutes, although it felt like hours to Taz, she remained as still and quiet as possible. Her hand was still clamped over Cachondo's mouth, but she didn't care about the dog slobber right now.

"All rangers to the cafeteria," Up's voice called out of the ship's speakers, "And yes, Junior, that means you, too."

Junior groaned and stomped out. Taz waited a moment before crawling out and leaving the cockpit herself to ensure not being seen. She then told Cachondo to scram and scurried to the cafeteria with everyone else. The recruits all stood around Up, who looked around at every single one of them. When he got to Taz she quickly bent over and pretended to retie her boot. She couldn't look at him. It felt like everything she knew and was keeping from him was tattooed across her face and if he saw her, he'd see it all.

"Alright, everyone, this is the real deal. No holograms, no practice, no fake injuries," Up said, "I am determined to have no fatalities on this mission, got it? Now I know that ya'll aren't the brightest crayons in the box, but I believe that you can do this. Can I get a 'Sir, yes, sir'?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" the men cheered.

"Good, now eat some breakfast, boys. We'll be arriving soon."

Before they knew it, Up was on the speaker again, announcing that they would be loading into a drop pod in five minutes. A grave silence fell over all the recruits as they gathered their zappers and headed into the main room to await departure. Taz pushed past them all and ran to where she had ordered Cachondo to hide. It was the hallway of the closet that she had spent most of the previous day in. Part of her wanted to just sit in there again, but it was overshadowed by the larger part of her that wanted to kick some robot ass and get vengeance for her family. Taz spotted the black dog and lifted Cachondo up to her face level.

"Taz! There you are! We're about to g-"

"No, listen to me," Taz said, "Jou are going to stay right here. If I don't come back….find Bug, Tootsie, and Krayonder. I'm sure they would take care of jou even though they're a bunch of _estúpidos_."

"But, Ta-"

"I have to go. Do what I said."

For a moment, just a small, miniscule moment, Taz thought about giving the puppy some sort of affection, like a smile or a kiss to his head, but she didn't. This was the time to be brave, to be a touch son of a bitch, not a wuss who goes around being lovey-dovey to annoying little dogs. She set Cachondo down, shut the closet door, and hurried back to the main room.

They boarded the drop pod, which was unpleasantly cramped with the large group inside and the pod detached from the ship. In a strange way, it felt exactly like how it did when Taz had left Mexico to go to training camp, but she didn't know why. Starship 15A2 wasn't her home, so why did she get that sour feeling in her stomach about the possibility of never seeing it again?

With a shudder, the pod landed and the door slid down. Chaos was all around them. Fires were taking over buildings and foliage. The sound of laser shots echoed over the vast surface of the planet. The recruits stepped nervously out of the drop pod.

"Well, it looks like the robots haven't been here very long. Just take out as many as you can and try to not injure the natives, okay?" Up said.

No one answered, but Up knew that they understood what he had said.

"Okay, roll out!"

Many stayed in small groups, but Taz took off on her own. She'd do better without terrified boys beside her. It wasn't long before she had blasted multiple robots to their deaths. Something wasn't clicking, though. Where was that feeling of payback, of justice? She ducked behind a half demolished house as a robot fired at her. As it came closer, Taz turned to dash and get a better spot to shoot it from. As she stumbled over the wreckage, she smacked right into someone. It was another recruit. She was ready to scream at him for getting in her way when an explosion rocked the ground. Taz grabbed a hold of a wall for support, but the man fell to the ground, smacked his head against a piece of roof, and passed out. He obviously had it worse, but Taz felt her foot bend during the explosion and her ankle was throbbing. She turned and quickly shot down the robot that was approaching and tried to figure out what to do next. She couldn't lift this guy. A moment later, Taz was stalking off into the battle again, but her bulletproof vest was missing for she had laid it over the unconscious man.

Now more vulnerable than ever with a messed up ankle and no protection at all, Taz scurried up one of the few remaining trees and began shooting down. From her perch, she turned to see something landing only a little ways away. Taz squinted, hoping to see more rangers filing out, but the door opened and a whole new fleet of robots marched out. She couldn't see anyone else around her. There was no way to warn the others. They'd catch up and find them. With too much confidence and no plan whatsoever, Taz began a limping run towards the fresh robots.

_BOOM. _

Up didn't know what the sound was, but it shook everything so violently that the robot that he had been about to kill had fallen over and its head had popped off. A huge plume of smoke and an orange inferno guided him to the site of the explosion. He desperately hoped not to find a large group of his men dead. He had told them that staying in clumps was a bad strategy.

What Up found instead was a burning ship, surrounded by many, many broken robots. He was taken aback by it. First of all, he hadn't even seen this ship land. Secondly, how had it exploded? Then Up spotted something that stood out. A body. This body wasn't metallic and sparking, it was small, unmoving, and definitely human. Up went to the person and flipped them over to reveal a bloody, burned Taz


	15. Chapter 15

Up paced back and forth in front of the sick bay. A small medical team had docked on a short time ago to help with any injured rangers. Many just had minor injuries, but Taz had by far gotten the worst. Up had been forced out by the medics so he wouldn't be in their way. He wasn't sure if Taz would make it, but he did know one thing; that his best ranger had taken out a whole fleet of robots that otherwise would have most likely killed all the rangers. Out of all of his recruits, Taz was the one that Up least wanted to die.

"Commander?"

Up turned to see a nervous, twitching doctor. "What?" he demanded, only scaring the other man more.

"We-we've fixed up your Ensign as best as we can. Taz will be fine, but there's...well, there's some…news we feel you should know."

"Bad news?"

"Well, I wouldn't say 'b-bad' news, more like 'surprising' news," the doctor said, "You see, we discovered something about Taz that may come as a shock."

"Damnit, doc, just spit it out! What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing. She'll be fine."

"Well, if she'll be fine, then wha-," Up stopped and let the last moment replay in his mind, "Did you say, '_she'll _be fine'?"

"Yes, Commander, we found out that Taz is a woman. Like I said, not bad, but surprisi-"

The doctor stopped talking when Up shoved past him and into the sick bay. Taz was lying on one of the beds, still unconscious, now in a hospital gown and hooked up to a beeping machine that was displaying her vitals. As she lay there, more still than he had ever seen her before, Up noticed the delicate femininity of her features. He had always been under the illusion that Taz was a man, so now he looked at her as though she were a new person and he realized all that he had missed before. Her eyelashes were long and full over her closed eyes, her hands were worn, but small with dainty, rounded fingernails, and through the gown and bandages Up could tell that she had been hiding her womanly build. How had he never noticed all this? Or that she had no Adam's apple? Or that her voice _had _always seemed unnaturally deep? Up ran a hand through his rapidly graying hair and tugged at it angrily. He felt betrayed, and even worse, stupid. Those were two emotions that Up hated.

Late that evening Taz's eyes opened slowly. A scraped up hand went to her throbbing head. All she remembered was shooting the fuel tank of the robot ship and being thrown back as it exploded. Taz looked down at all the bandages on her that felt warm and gooey inside. Then she realized that her uniform had been traded for a thin, white gown. If someone had changed her, then that meant….

"Ah, Princess Taz is awake!"

Taz's eyes narrowed into slits as Junior walked over to her.

"Why do you look so angry? Are you on your period or something?"

Taz felt her chest heave as she breathed angrily through her nose.

Junior smirked. "Oh, come on! I could go on with 'you're a girl' jokes for hours!"

"Who all knows?" Taz asked.

"Oh, not many. Just me, the medic team, Commander Up, all the other losers in your crew, my dad…. So, basically, everyone."

"What's going to happen?"

Taz wished that his answer would be that everything would go back to the way it had been. She just wanted to keep training everyday and hanging out with Up. _Up. _He was mad at her. Taz could just sense it.

"Well," Junior answered, "Dad wasn't too happy. I don't know if you remember, but my dad is the head of the galactic league."

"Yes, I remember. I don't wanna hear about jour _padre_. Just answer my damn question."

"Don't be a Little Miss Sassy-Pants. See, told you I had more girl jokes! Anyway, like I was saying, Dad isn't happy. He feels that a starship ranger is a man's job, so you are high on his shit list right now. The other recruits are going back to camp in a drop pod to continue training. You, Commander Up, and myself are taking this ship to the main starship base. Dad wants to have a talking to with the commander about how he allowed a girl into his camp and you will be sent back to Mexico."

_No. _Taz shook her head back and forth roughly. _No._ She couldn't go back to Mexico. She just couldn't. And even worse than that, Up was going to get into trouble because of her. After all that he had done for her, she had made him look bad and maybe even hurt his job.

"Awh, is she gonna cry now?" Junior taunted.

"GET OUT!" Taz screamed.

She shot up, ready to leap at Junior and strangle him. The tube connecting her to the vitals machine popped out. Taz was deep red with anger, reaching for any part of Junior's head so she could bash it against her metal footboard. At that moment, two nurses ran it. The shoved Junior out, hooked Taz up to the machine again, and told her to rest. Taz heard them whispering about giving her something that would make her go to sleep, so she pretended to relax. After they were gone, Taz dug her nails into the bed, popping through the plastic outer material of the mattress. She was angry, embarrassed, and scared all at the same time. Her eyes prickled, but Taz knew she'd shed no tears. She had become stronger than that.


	16. Chapter 16

From her bed in the sick bay Taz heard the call for the men to board the drop pod that would take them back to camp. She wanted nothing more than to be able to be going with them and returning to the place she had called home for the past weeks, not stuck in a damn hospital bed. As she sat on her uncomfortable mattress, pulling angrily at a small rip in her sheets, voices came in from the entry of the sick bay.

"Where is he...er, she, man?" someone exclaimed.

"Shh, I don't think we're supposed to be here," another person hissed.

"Oh, sorry," the first voice said in a whisper, "Where is she?"

"Here, Tazzy, Tazzy, Taz!" a country accent called out, completely ignoring the warning of the other person.

Taz sighed. Of course. As if all that was happening wasn't bad enough, now she had Tootsie, Krayonder, and Bug looking for her.

There was the sound of a smack. "She's not a dog, Tootsie!" Bug scolded.

"A dog! That's it!" a fourth voice happily exclaimed.

Taz shut her eyes in frustration as she heard clicking on the floor, knowing it was Cachondo's paws. There was nothing she could do now. They were going to find her.

"TAZ!"

Sure enough, Cachondo had sniffed her out. The small dog got a running start and still barely made it onto the high bed. He then pounced into Taz's lap, stood with his front paws on her chest, and began to lick her face. Although she tried very hard, Taz couldn't keep a straight face. She smiled just a little as the excited puppy greeted her. A moment later Krayonder, Bug, and Tootsie entered her area as well and she went back to being expressionless.

"Hey," Bug said awkwardly.

Taz looked at the three, but didn't say anything.

"We, uh, we found him scratching at the door from inside a closet," the large insect continued, gesturing at Cachondo, "He asked what happened to you, so we told him and then he wanted us to help him find you."

"I thought you didn't like us, but you told your little talking doggy friend to find us if anything happened to you. That sure was sweet," Tootsie blushed.

Taz shrugged. "Jou're really the only people here I know, besides...Up."

The men shared glances, seeming to notice the slight sadness in her voice as she finished the sentence.

"They found your bullet proof vest over one of the injured guys. You saved his life. Hell, man, you saved all our lives," Krayonder said.

"_De nada." _

An automated voice echoed throughout the ship, alerting the rangers to get to the drop pod. It would be leaving in five minutes.

"Jou need to get going."

Tootsie went beside Taz, smiled goofily at her, and then affectionately patted Cachondo on the head before saying, "Goodbye, Taz. Goodbye, doggie. I love you."

Bug went next.

"This really isn't goodbye," he said, "We'll see you again, I'm sure of it. If they'll let a big, orange bug like me be a starship ranger, then they'll let you in some day, too. Especially when they realize how much of a hero you are."

Although Taz was touched by his words, she still shot Bug a threatening look when he attempted to hug her. Krayonder was too frightened to be more than three steps away from her bed after hearing how Taz had tried to murder Junior the previous night. He wasn't sure what to say, due partly to the fact that he had never had a good way with words and partly because he both feared and respected Taz and didn't want to say anything stupid that would get him punched.

"See ya, man."

Taz nodded.

The three turned and walked out. Then, Krayonder popped his head back in.

"Hey, Taz, you're pretty tough for a chick."

Taz smirked. "Funny, I was going to the jou the same thing."

A few minutes later there was the sound of the drop pod disengaging itself from the ship. Taz sat cross legged and took note to how eerily quiet the place was now that the men were gone. She had been all alone in her curtained-off area since the previous night, but without the obnoxious laughter and idiotic shouts echoing through the ship, she felt even lonelier. Sure, she had Cachondo now, but her happiness with him had ended quickly. All he had wanted to do was talk about what had happened.

"I should've made friends with a normal dog, not jou damn _extraño_ _computadora _puppy," she grumbled.

"Who're you talking to?" asked a nurse as she walked in. The way she said it made it sound as though she thought Taz was a child.

She stopped abruptly when she pulled back one of the curtains around Taz's bed. The cup of water on the tray she was carrying sloshed around.

"How did that dog get in here?" she said with wide eyes, "That is highly unsanitary. I've gotta get it out of here."

"Touch my dog and in two minutes there will be a dent in that tray that matches jour face."

The nurse turned on heel and walked out, her face white. It was quite obvious that she was no longer going to talk to her patient in a baby voice. Taz didn't even care that the tray had had her dinner on it. She wasn't hungry and probably wouldn't be for a while. During the little time she had slept the previous night she had had nightmares of everything in her life being ruined. She saw returning to her village only to find it ablaze from robots and everyone dead. Then there were images of a hand reaching out and ripping the G.L.E.E. logo off of Up's uniform. Somehow, she felt, all of it was her fault.

"Do you mean it?" Cachondo said, breaking Taz from her thoughts.

"Mean _what_?" she snapped.

"You called me your dog."

Taz groaned loudly. "Ugh, everyone is being so emotional around here today and it's making me _enfermo_!"

She leapt off of her bed and stalked out into the hall of the sick bay. The medic crew was huddled on the other side of the room chatting amongst themselves. Taz rummaged through some cabinets until she found another hospital gown. She put that one on backwards and tied it in the front to provide coverage from both ends. Her _tias_ had always watched the _telenovelas _and Taz thought that the outfits given to people in the hospital were silly. Now she knew that for sure.

After creeping out of the sick bay, which wasn't very hard due to the not-so constant vigilance of her doctors and nurses, Taz walked around the ship. It was the exact same way it had been the other night when she had been wandering around; dark and quiet. Now it was even quieter than before, though, with the lack of snoring from the group of men. Her steps slowed and became softer as she neared the hall with the bedrooms. Taz listened for any sign of Up, but all she heard was deep breathing and coughing that she recognized as Junior's. The pain from her ankle took away the pounding headache that being nice that day had caused. Soon Taz found herself back in the main room of the ship and went over to the window. She stood on her left leg and held her right one up a little to relieve her ankle.

"A few minutes ago you would've had the greatest view of Venus."

Taz shut her eyes and leaned her forehead against the window, breathing deeply.

"You could've said something, you know. If you had just told me, then… Well…," Up trailed on, stepping closer.

"Then what? Jou would've sent me back or treated me like a little girl on the battlefield."

"You know that isn't true. You're a tough son of a bitch and I would've treated you the exact same way."

Taz finally turned to face him. "What difference would it have made? We'd still be in trouble."

"You lied to me, Taz," Up said, "That's the difference. All those times when we were just sitting there silently you could have come out and told me. I thought that we were buds, but apparently you didn't trust me."

"Yeah, I don't trust the man who saved my life twice. That's why I didn't tell jou. It wasn't because I was scared, or anything. That'd be _loco_," Taz said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Up watched as she turned towards the window once more. He could see her reflection from the glass and could tell by the look on her face that what she was saying was true. She had been too scared to tell him. She had been a frightened young woman who was a long, long way from home. Up sighed and crossed his arms.

"Do you want some real clothes?"

"_Sí, por favor_."


	17. Chapter 17

**Sorry it's taken so long to update! I have the normal excuses: school, writer's block, and other stories. XD**

It took about three days to get to the main starship base for the league. Using his status as commander, Up had gotten Taz released from the sick bay and the two of them spent almost the entire trip together. The only time that they weren't side by side were the few hours each day when they slept and even then they were in adjacent rooms. Up would point out places in the sky and tell Taz stories about it's people or a certain mission he had had there. Taz gazed out the giant window of the observation deck and absentmindedly fiddled with her bandages as she listened to him. She had always hated history lessons, and any lessons in general, for that matter, but hearing about events like the Time War in Up's voice made it different.

On the night before they were due to arrive, Taz and Up laid in their rooms, neither able to sleep. Somehow, Taz knew that the man on the other side of the wall was as wide awake as she was. She clambered out of bed, went into the hall, and knocked on his door. Up opened it almost immediately. His hair was tousled, but his face showed no sign that he had been asleep.

"Can I-," Taz started to say, but Up moved aside to let her in before she could finish the question.

They sat on Up's bed. He had his back against the headboard and she sat cross legged at the other end.

"I don't want to go back to Mexico," Taz said.

"I'd take you over half the guys at that training camp any day."

Taz glanced up and for a moment, thought long, black lashes, held his blue eyes for a fleeting moment.

Up cleared his throat. "Cause, you know, you're a really great ranger."

"Are...are jou worried about tomorrow?"

"Naw," Up shrugged, "Spaceclaw's an asshole. Besides, you're worth getting reprimanded or losing my job over. You're a hero, Taz."

Taz looked down into her lap. Guilt washed over her again. The past few days had made her forget all about Up's upcoming meeting with Dr. Spaceclaw and her being sent back, but now the time had come and she had to think about it again. Realization swept over her. The next few hours would be the last she'd ever have with Up. All the times they had talked, ate, and laughed together would just be memories. Up could practically see her sadness as she shut her eyes and sighed.

"Hey, you wanna watch a movie?" he asked.

"What movie?"

"One of my favorite. It's called the Karate Kid."

Taz moved to sit beside Up as they watched the film. She liked it a lot as well, but towards the end was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. Exhaustion was catching up with her. As the credits began to roll, Taz couldn't do it anymore. Her head fell lightly onto Up's shoulder and her lids drooped shut. Up carefully shifted her body so she was laying and then covered her. His fingers reached for the dial on his lamp, but unable to resist the temptation, he used this opportunity to look down at Taz. He noticed how tightly she clutched the covers as she slept and how her tanned skin looked next to the dark green comforter. Then, Up turned off the light, rolled onto his side, and fell asleep as well.

Under any other circumstances, Taz would have been excited to be approaching the base for the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration. With what was going on, however, she had the urge to blow the damn thing to peices.

As 15A2 landed on one of the decks, Taz had the overwhelming feeling that she and Up would not be standing side by side ever again. She hugged him, not tightly or desperately, but just enough for him to know that she would miss him without her actually having to say the words. Up put one arm around her and patted her back lightly. Neither cared that Junior was standing right there.

When the ship's door opened, Taz was glad she had taken the chance to hug Up when she did because several rangers ran aboard and slapped glowing, neon handcuffs around her wrists.

"Hey! What are you doing to her? She's not a criminal!" Up yelled as they shoved Taz out of the ship.

A few minutes later she was in a chair waiting for the men that had cuffed her prepare a drop pod to take her back to Mexico in. Taz attempted to slide her hands through the contraption holding her wrists, but every time she tried, it felt like they got tighter. Soon the men had the coordinates and were ready to go, but Taz wasn't.

As they roughly puller her to her feet, Taz grabbed a hold of the top of her chair and spun, wiping out one guy. The others went to grab her. She dug her knee into the groin of one and tripped another. Taz felt sluggish as she attacked, but powered through it. The fourth ranger caught her off guard. She smacked her head against his and ran, ignoring the throbbing in her skull and the tingling in her body. She wasn't going back.

Eventually, her legs gave out. Taz collapsed to the ground in a hallway, unable to slow her fall due to her hands being cuffed behind her back. Her face collided with the carpet. Spots dotted her vision. A door opened.

"Hello?" a voice called out, "Is anyone out h- OMDG! Are you okay? Specs, Specs, come here!"

Taz felt hands lift her upper half gently. A person was there, but looked blurry. The hall was spinning. The person's voice seemed so far away.

"Hey, you're gonna be fine. I'm a schience officer! My name's February, like the month, but a person!"


	18. Chapter 18

Taz squirmed as two fingers spread her eyelids open.

"February, what are you doing?" a nasally voice demanded.

"I saw this on TV once! Gimme a flashlight to shine in her eye!"

Taz jerked and rolled away from February's clutches, which only made her feel more dizzy. The two girls had dragged Taz into their room and were trying to figure out what was wrong. February obviously hadn't taken the hint that the barely conscious girl wanted nothing to do with her. She sat Taz up against the side of a bed and smacked her cheek. Under different circumstances, the blonde would've been bleeding in two seconds. The other one, Specs, kneeled beside Taz and grabbed the wrists bound behind her back.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed, "I need you to stay perfectly still, okay?"

Having no choice but to trust her, Taz stopped fidgeting. Her head cleared a little.

"February, get me my wire cutters and a screwdriver."

"You mean that twisty thing?"

Specs sighed, "Yes, now hurry!"

February shuffled around in a bag returned with the items. Specs fiddled with the wire cutters, but the metal of the cuffs was too strong to break through. She tried picking the lock with her screwdriver.

"It's still too big to fit into the lock!"

"Ooh!" February exclaimed, "Try this!"

She shoved a hand into her blonde bob and pulled out a bobby pin. Specs snatched it and a second later the handcuffs clicked open. Taz breathed a sigh of relief, suddenly feeling much better. Now that she could see properly, she took a look at the people who had rescued her.

Specs had curly orange hair that poofed out all over. She squinted through her bulky glasses as she further examined the object she had removed from Taz's wrists. February had gone to get Taz some water, but had gotten sidetracked with the task of strategically placing the bobby pin back into her hair.

"It's these that made you sick," Specs said, holding up the handcuffs, "They seem to have some kind of technology that drains the energy of whoever's wearing them if they try moving around too much."

"Why did they arrest you? And what did they do to your hair?" February asked when she returned to them.

Taz chose to ignore the second question. "They were trying to send me back to my hometown because I snuck into a ranger camp."

Specs and February glanced at each other and then turned back to Taz.

"That...that was you?" Specs asked.

"Jou've heard about me?"

"Well, duh!" February exclaimed enthusiastically, "You saved, like, a bunch of people and then they found out you're a girl and Spaceclaw was all mad, but Specs were like, 'Whoo! Girl Power!'"

"But how did jou two even get here if Spaceclaw won't let _chicas_ be rangers?"

"We're...what's the word, Specs? Evacuums?"

"Evacuees," Specs corrected, "The league rescues a lot of people and houses them on the main ship until they find a safe place for us to live."

Taz turned to February. "But jou said jou're some kind of officer."

February shook her hair out of her face dramatically and went into a long tale of how it had always been her dream to become a 'schience' officer. Taz immediately regretted asking the question. She had the feeling that if the girl couldn't even pronounce 'science' correctly, then she probab;y couldn't name three of the elements. After a while of imagining February spontaneously combust when handed a biology test, Taz tuned back into the speech.

"- and Spaceclaw will totally let me become a schience officer! His son told me!"

"Whoa, whoa, jou know Junior?"

"Yeah! We met in the cafeteria one day and he was, like, totally hitting on me."

Taz couldn't help the involuntary cringe that came when she pictured Junior trying to flirt with someone. A majority of the day consisted of Taz telling the other girls about all she had been through at camp and even some stuff before that, shooting piercing glares whenever the blonde tried to interrupt her. She purposely left out the part where she discovered that Up was the one who had saved her on her birthday, though. The knowledge of that still made her a little queasy for some reason. When it came time for the rangers and evacuees to go eat dinner, Taz stayed behind and food was snuck in for her.

"There were guards everywhere!" February informed her upon her and Specs' return.

A small smirk spread across Taz's face. "Looking for me, eh?"

"None of them said anything about who exactly they were looking for," Specs said, "They probably don't want to have to tell Spaceclaw they lost you."

Later in the evening, February and Specs told Taz that she could bunk with one of them. February seemed like the type who cuddled whatever was near them in her sleep. Taz's brother Gabriel had been like that. Ignoring the slight prick in her heart at the comparison, she curled up on one side of Specs' bed. The girls exchanged well-wishes of sleep and turned off all the lights.

It was calm and silent until -

"Hey, Taz!" February whisper-yelled across the darkened room.

"Hm?" Taz grumbled.

"You know that guy you were talking about earlier? Commander Up?"

"What about him?"

"Is he cute?"

Taz gripped her pillow tighter and replied through clenched teeth, "Goodnight, February."


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry I haven't updated in FOREVER. I've felt kind of unispired with this story lately, to be honest, but I'm trying to power through to the end because of all the support I've gotten throughout this project. So, I hope you enjoy this short chapter.  
And let me know if you recognize a briefly introduced beloved character. :3**

"Commander Up, the director will see you now."

"Fantastic," Up muttered under his breath, rising out of his seat to head into Spaceclaw's office.

As the door slid shut behind him, Up looked around. He hadn't been in the office under Spaceclaw's power. The room was oddly detached and way too clean. The dark, polished wood of the well-organized desk glinted in the light. What stood out to Up the most, though, was the lack of sentimental objects – no photos of the family, no mementos of Junior's childhood, nothing.

Spaceclaw stared Up down over the desk. His dark eyes never left the commander, even as he accepted two glasses of dark liquid from a white-haired robot. He pushed one of the tumblers towards Up and then proceeded to drain half of his own drink.

"I assume you know why you're here, Commander."

"Unfortunately."

"Mess-ups like this require a lot of work. Do you know how much trouble this girl has caused?"

"She snuck into camp, so what?" Up asked, "And it obviously didn't take too much work to fix that 'problem.' All you did was have some rangers drag her off like an animal."

Spaceclaw took another drink before speaking again. "It would seem she escaped."

"Escaped?" Up repeated, unable to hide the hint of pleasure in his voice upon hearing this news.

"Don't feign shock, Commander. Tell me where she is and the consequences will be less severe – for you."

Up grabbed the glass in front of him, even though he had absolutely no intention of drinking the contents. More than anything, he just needed something to wrap his hands around that wasn't Spaceclaw's neck.

"I don't know where she is."

Spaceclaw seemed to be anticipating that reply and asked, "Is that the answer you're sticking with."

Up said nothing.

"Very well, you're dismissed. In your ship you'll find instructions for your new mission. But I'd advise you to let someone know if you find out where this Taz girl is. I'd hate to have to... How shall I phrase it? _Remove_ one of the league's best commanders because of his loyalty to a troublemaker."

There was the sound of crystal rain and then heavy boots marching away from the office. Spaceclaw leaned back in his chair and then beckoned for his robot.

"Please state a command for me to service you."

The director lazily pointed to the shattered glass scatted in a puddle of spilled scotch and a few drops of Up's blood.

A bead of sweat began to slowly trickle down from Taz's hairline. She hadn't even been in her new living quarters for a whole day and she was already getting antsy from being cooped in. The time spent in camp had gotten her used to freedom and open places. Being trapped inside the girls' room wasn't all that was getting to her, though. Over an hour ago, Specs and February had gone to try to find out any information about Up's meeting with Spaceclaw. As time ticked on, Taz resorted to working out a little in an attempt to clear her mind.

"Taz!"

"Feb, shh!"

Specs shoved the blonde into the room and shut the door quickly. February grinned sheepishly with the realization of what she had yelled in the middle of the hall. They hurried and sat on one of the beds. Taz stood, sighing before demanding to know what they heard.

"Well, no one can really go near Spaceclaw's office without looking suspicious," Specs started.

"So I went and talked to Junior!" February finished.

Taz pinched the bridge of her nose. "And?"

"He told me that his dad is sending Commander Up on a mission that'll end the Robot Wars."

"Where?"

February and Specs shared a glance.

"That-that was all she got before Junior got creepy," Specs replied.

Taz paced back and forth between the beds for a moment. This "war-ending" mission was surely planned to be a death trip not just for Up, but all the others from camp. She couldn't just let it happen. Up had saved her life, twice in fact, and Taz knew she would never be able to live with herself if she just sat by while everyone went to battle.

"We have to do something."

"Like what?" February asked.

"Form an army, join them, help them."

_Help Up. _


End file.
